Commissioned in 1906 by Tsar Nicholas II, the egg was presented to the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna on Easter that year for her 40th wedding anniversary.

[1] The "surprise" that came inside the egg is a miniature gold and silver swan on a "lake" of aquamarine.

[1] In Russia, the swan is considered a symbol of family life and the permanence of the bond of marriage.

[2] Purchased by King Farouk of Egypt in 1949, the egg was later sold off by the Egyptian Revolutionary Command Council in 1954 at the Palace Collections Sale.

The egg was purchased by Wartski’s of London and later sold to the Fondation Edouard et Maurice Sandoz in Lausanne, Switzerland.