10 little-known facts about Fabergé eggs

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Faberge is still today, perhaps, one of the most famous jewelry brands. And all thanks to the precious eggs that were produced by this jewelry house for the Russian imperial family. Today, these works of art are a huge rarity, shrouded in secrets, and their cost reaches tens of millions of dollars. In our review, little-known facts about the world's most famous eggs.

1. Imperial Easter traditions

The tradition of painting Easter eggs has existed in Russia since ancient times. The imperial family also followed it. But in 1885, Tsar Alexander III, without suspecting it himself, somewhat transformed this tradition. Deciding to surprise his wife, Empress Maria Feodorovna, he gave her a special gift - an egg with a secret. It was a precious egg, covered with white enamel, across which there was a golden stripe. It opened, and inside was a golden "yolk". In it, in turn, sat a golden hen, inside which was a ruby crown and a pendant. The Empress was delighted with such a gift, and Alexander III presented a new precious egg to his wife every Easter. This tradition was continued by the son of Alexander III, Nicholas II, who gave precious eggs to his mother and wife on Easter holidays.

2. The main rule is a surprise inside

The author of the Easter eggs ordered by Russian emperors was the jeweler Peter Carl Faberge. He was given complete freedom of creativity, he could create precious eggs on any topic. But there was still one rule: each egg should be a surprise. Therefore, in every Faberge egg was hidden a tiny miracle: a tiny diamond replica of the royal crown, a miniature ruby pendant, a mechanical swan, an elephant, a golden miniature of a palace, 11 tiny portraits on an easel, a ship model, an exact working replica of a royal carriage, and much more.

4. Peter Carl Faberge - Russian jeweler with European roots

The famous jeweler was born in Russia in St. Petersburg on May 30, 1846. Father - Gustav Faberge was from Pärnu (Estonia) and came from a German family, mother - Charlotte Jungstedt, was the daughter of a Danish artist. In 1841, Fabergé Sr. received the title of "Jewelry Master" and in 1842 founded a jewelry company in St. Petersburg on Bolshaya Morskaya Street at number 12. The talent of the young man was so bright and uncommon that at the age of 24 in 1870 he was able to take his father's firm into his own hands.

In 1882, the All-Russian Art and Industry Exhibition was held in Moscow. It was there that the Emperor Alexander III and his wife Maria Feodorovna noticed the works of Peter Carl Faberge. Thus, Faberge Jr. received the patronage of the royal family and the title of "jeweler of His Imperial Majesty and jeweler of the Imperial Hermitage".

Faberge products were also famous in Europe. Numerous royal and princely relatives of the Russian imperial family in Great Britain, Denmark, Greece, Bulgaria received jewelry as a gift, treasured it and passed it on by inheritance.

The 1917 revolution forced Faberge to close the firm. He emigrated to Switzerland, where he died in 1920.

5. The Bolsheviks, unwillingly, saved the Faberge eggs

After the October Revolution, the Bolsheviks, trying to replenish the treasury of "the world's first communist state", were selling Russian art treasures. They plundered churches, sold canvases by old masters from the Hermitage Museum and took on crowns, diadems, necklaces and Faberge eggs that belonged to the Emperor's family.

In 1925, the catalog of the values of the imperial court (crowns, wedding crowns, scepter, orb, diadems, necklaces and other jewelry, including the famous Faberge eggs) was sent to all foreign representatives in the USSR. Part of the Diamond Fund was sold to the English antiquarian Norman Weiss. In 1928, seven "low-value" Faberge eggs and 45 other items were withdrawn from the Diamond Fund.

However, it was thanks to this that the Faberge eggs were saved from being melted down. … Thus, one of the most incredible works of Faberge, the Peacock egg, has been preserved. Inside the crystal and gold masterpiece was an enameled peacock. Moreover, this bird was mechanical - when it was removed from the golden branch, the peacock raised its tail like a real bird and could even walk.

6. The missing egg bag

A total of 50 precious eggs were made for the Russian imperial family. The fate of seven of them is unknown today, most likely they are in private collections. The fate of the egg-case, created in the Faberge workshop in 1889, is also covered with mystery. This egg was last seen in a London store in 1949. According to rumors, it was sold to an unknown person for $ 1250. Today, the cost of Faberge eggs reaches $ 30 million.

7. One egg was purchased as precious metal scrap

One of the lost imperial Easter eggs was found in a completely surprising way. The American bought a golden egg, studded with precious stones, for $ 14,000 for scrap and wanted to resell it at a better price. But when there were no buyers, he decided to look for an outlandish souvenir on the Internet and was surprised to find that it was the work of Faberge. After examination, it was confirmed that this is one of the long-lost Imperial Easter eggs. Instead of $ 500 in profit, the dealer received about $ 33 million by selling the egg to a private collector.

8. Queen Elizabeth II owns three imperial Faberge eggs

The British royal family has three Imperial Faberge Easter eggs: Colonnade, Basket of Flowers and Mosaic. Special attention is drawn to the "Flower Basket", the flowers in which look fresh and surprisingly realistic.

The British Faberge collection is one of the largest in the world. In addition to the legendary eggs, it contains several hundred jewelry masterpieces: boxes, frames, animal figurines and personal jewelry of members of the Imperial Houses of Russia, Great Britain and Denmark. Despite the size of the British collection, this is only a small fraction of the 200,000 pieces of jewelery produced by the Fabergé Jewelry House.

9. Eggs of the Kelch family

When the Kelch couple divorced, the ex-wife of the entrepreneur took her Faberge collection with her to Paris. The six eggs ended up in the United States. Initially, the eggs were mistaken for items from the imperial collection, and it was not until 1979 that all seven eggs were found to be from the Kelch collection.

10. Return of Faberge

After the revolution, the Faberge brand was resold several times. Unfortunately, the big name was used by a toilet cleaner, shampoo and cologne company. The last company to acquire the brand, Pallinghurst Resources, decided in 2007 to return it to its former glory by resuming jewelry production. Two years later, thanks to the efforts of Peter Faberge's granddaughters Sarah and Tatiana, the world saw new Faberge jewelry for the first time since 1917. These products are clearly far from those that were made at the beginning of the 20th century, but, no less, today you can buy jewelry from Faberge at a price of $ 8,000 - $ 600,000.