Probably the most expensive egg in the world.Image: keystone
12/02/2025, 9:25 p.m12/02/2025, 9:25 p.m
It is a creation made of crystal and diamonds and is considered one of the most beautiful works by the jeweler Carl Fabergé: The so-called Winter Egg was auctioned in London on Tuesday evening for a record price of 22.9 million pounds (around 23 million francs). This is “a new world record for a Fabergé work,” said the auction house Christie’s.
Fabergé made the 14 centimeter egg in 1913 on behalf of the Russian Tsar Nicholas II for his mother. It is made of rock crystal, is set with around 4,500 diamonds and is reminiscent of ice crystal covered in snowflakes. Inside it contains a removable miniature bouquet of flowers. The white anemones are made of white quartz with gold wire and are placed in a basket made of platinum.
The winter egg has changed hands several times. During the Soviet era, sometime between 1929 and 1933, the Russian government sold the artwork to the London jeweler Wartski to earn foreign currency. It has been part of various British collections. It was missing between 1975 and 1994, when it was auctioned off by Christie’s. It was sold again in 2002 and achieved a then record price of $9.6 million in New York.
It was lost between 1975 and 1994.Image: keystone
With the proceeds of 22.9 million pounds now achieved in London, the price records of other Fabergé eggs have been exceeded. In 2007, the so-called Rothschild egg, which was not made for the Russian royal family, was sold to a Russian collector for almost nine million pounds.
Over a period of 31 years, a total of 50 Fabergé Easter eggs were made for the Romanov family, who ruled Tsarist Russia at the time. They are extremely rare and valuable, emphasized Margo Oganesian from Christie’s.
43 Fabergé eggs left
The tradition of commissioning the valuable eggs from Fabergé as Easter gifts was founded by Tsar Alexander II in the 1880s. His successor, Nicholas II, placed a firm order for two Fabergé eggs per year: one for his mother and one for his wife.
The Russian Revolution of 1917 ultimately brought this costly tradition to an abrupt end. Today only 43 of these Fabergé eggs remain from the Tsar’s family, the seven others are missing. (sda/afp)