A lost Fabergé egg worth £40 million could be hiding in plain sight, maybe even near St. James's Park. Could you be the one to find it? Read on to find out more.
What is a Fabergé Egg?
Think of a treasure so rare, so intricately crafted, that fewer than a handful exist in the world today. The Fabergé eggs are just that: ornate, jewel-encrusted creations that once belonged to the Russian royal family. But their story is far more dramatic than just one of luxury and wealth; these eggs symbolise a lost empire, a royal family's downfall, and a worldwide treasure hunt that is still ongoing.
These eggs were first commissioned in 1885 by Tsar Alexander III of Russia as incredibly elaborate Easter gifts to his wife, Empress Maria Feodorovna. The first egg, known as the Hen Egg, was outwardly plain, a simple white enamel shell, but it opened to reveal a golden yolk, which in turn opened to reveal a golden hen that contained a tiny crown and a ruby pendant. This surprise pleased the Empress so much that Alexander made it an annual event. His son, Nicholas II, followed the tradition and continued to give eggs to his mother as well as his wife, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, until the Russian Revolution in 1917 abruptly brought the reign of the Romanov dynasty to an end.
The Hen Egg (1885). Fabergé Museum, St. Petersburg. Image courtesy of the Forbes Collection.
The Master Behind the Eggs
Peter Carl Fabergé
The genius behind these masterpieces was Peter Carl Fabergé, a renowned jeweler based in St. Petersburg. He was famous all over the European royal courts for his skill in goldsmithing, enameling, and stone-setting. While Cartier and Tiffany are today household names in the field of luxury brands, it was Fabergé who was once considered the gold standard of artistic craftsmanship. And it wasn't just about decoration. Each Fabergé egg was a engineering feat often featuring various intricate mechanisms so that they could reveal a hidden surprise inside.
More than 52 imperial eggs were produced over the course of Romanov rule; 46 of these can be accounted for today. Each was unique and made from the most expensive materials – gold, platinum, diamonds, sapphires, rubies. Some included miniature palaces, while others concealed tiny mechanical animals or detailed clocks.
Unrivaled in its craftsmanship, at that time these were considered to be among the most ambitious pieces of jewellery to be ever commissioned.
The Mystery of the Nécessaire Egg
But did you know that one of these lost treasures, the Nécessaire Egg, was last spotted just around the comer from our school in St. James's Park?
An old photograph recently emerged online, offering a new clue in the hunt for this missing Imperial Russian treasure. The picture, found by amateur British researcher Kellie Bond, shows for the first time in decades the lost Nécessaire Egg of 1889.
Nécessaire Egg of 1889 (Wartski)
Bond came across the image one night while looking through pictures on the internet. The photo is of a array of Russian treasures that are included in an Imperial gold chalice from 1791, commissioned by Catherine the Great. The striking revelation is that the missing Nécessaire Egg sits on the left-hand side of the image.
Lost Treasure
The Nécessaire Egg was originally ordered from Fabergé by Tsar Alexander III. In 1917, with the German army approaching St. Petersburg, the new Provisional Russian Government seized the treasures of the Imperial family and took them to the Kremlin for safekeeping. Among these was the Nécessaire Egg.
Later, many of these royal artefacts were sold by the Bolsheviks for hard cash to bolster industrialisation. The Nécessaire Egg was eventually bought by Wartski, an antique dealer from London, and displayed in the first ever Western exhibition of Fabergé's work back in 1949. Three years later, on June 19, 1952, it was sold to a person identified only as 'A Stranger' for £1,250. Since that day, it has vanished without a trace. With the average value of a Fabergé egg being £25-35 million, the Nécessaire could now be worth up to £40 million pounds at auction!
Could You Be the One to Crack the Case?
This new photograph offers a ray of hope to Fabergé enthusiasts and historians, who hope it will lead to the rediscovery of the egg. Could it be tucked away in some private collection? Seated unnoticed in some museum storage room? Or, like so many lost Fabergé treasures, is it out there somewhere, gathering dust in a local antique shop, mislabeled and forgotten?
So, next time you're out shopping, keep your eyes peeled! Who knows? The next Fabergé egg might just be waiting for you at a car boot sale or tucked away in an attic, its true value unknown.
Happy hunting, egg-splorers! (sorry)
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