Fabergé egg
[2][3] The most famous of the firm's creations are the 50 delivered Imperial Easter eggs,[4][5] of which 44 are currently known to be in complete or partial physical existence, leaving the fate of those remaining unknown.
Prior to 1885, Emperor Alexander III gave his wife Empress Maria Feodorovna jeweled Easter eggs.
"[9] Before Easter 1885, Alexander III's brother Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich suggested that Peter Carl Fabergé create a jeweled egg.
[12] Inside the hen lay a miniature diamond replica of the Imperial crown and a ruby pendant,[12] though these two elements have been lost.
Once Fabergé had approved an initial design, the work was carried out by a team of craftsmen, among them Michael Perkhin, Henrik Wigström, and Erik August Kollin.
Fabergé was commissioned to make similar eggs for a few private clients, including the Duchess of Marlborough, the Rothschild family, and the Yusupovs.
From 1998 to 2009, the Victor Mayer jewelry company produced limited-edition Fabergé eggs authorized under Unilever's license.
[21] Displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City Faberge was also commissioned to make eggs for Alexander Ferdinandovich Kelch, a Siberian gold mine industrialist, as gifts for his wife Barbara (Varvara) Kelch-Bazanova.
[40] In a bid to acquire more foreign currency, Joseph Stalin had many of the eggs sold in 1927, after their value had been appraised by Agathon Carl Theodor Fabergé.
Many of the eggs were sold to Armand Hammer (president of Occidental Petroleum and a personal friend of Lenin, whose father was founder of the United States Communist Party) and to Emanuel Snowman of the London antique dealers Wartski.
After the collection in the Kremlin Armoury, the largest gathering of Fabergé eggs was assembled by Malcolm Forbes, and displayed in New York City.
Totaling nine eggs, and approximately 180 other Fabergé objects, the collection was to be put up for auction at Sotheby's in February 2004 by Forbes' heirs.
[45] He claims never to have displayed them in his home, saying he bought them as they are important to Russian history and culture, and he believed them to be the best jewelry art in the world.
They have become symbols of the splendor, power and wealth of the Romanov dynasty and the Russian Empire, priceless treasures to hunt, steal, etc.
[54] and The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog (2023) In Danielle Steele's 1988 novel Zoya, a Fabergé egg is a keepsake of the last two remaining members of a noble family.
In 2017, visual artist Jonathan Monaghan exhibited a series of digital prints re-interpreting Fabergé eggs in humorous and surreal ways at The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.
