As part of the “Russian Easter Market”, Tatiana Fabergé, Carl Fabergé’s great-granddaughter, gave a lecture on the world-famous eggs created by her ancestor.
“Fifty-two imperial eggs were made by the House of Fabergé, not counting other eggs created for prestigious figures such as Nobel, Rothschild, and the Kelch family, who owned seven,” explains Tatiana Fabergé, a living memory of the family saga.
The story of the imperial eggs began in 1885, when Tsar Alexander III decided to offer a special gift to his wife, Maria Feodorovna, for Easter. He turned to Carl Fabergé, a well-known jeweller-goldsmith, who created the “Hen Egg”. It is made of gold; its opaque white enamelled shell opens to reveal its first surprise: a matte yellow-gold yolk. This opens to reveal a hen, gold in colour, which also opens.
The Empress Maria was so delighted with this egg that Alexander III appointed Fabergé “Goldsmith by Special Appointment to the Imperial Crown” and ordered an egg from Fabergé for every Easter. “This egg was found and can be seen in a museum in Saint Petersburg. Unfortunately, two surprises have disappeared, as is the case with many eggs,” she adds.
While many eggs can be admired in museums in Russia and the United States, many are owned by private collectors, such as Queen Elizabeth of England and Prince Albert of Monaco. Some disappeared in the turmoil of the Revolution and reappear almost miraculously at a flea market, or more recently in the United Arab Emirates. Their prices reach considerable sums. “There are fake experts just as there are fake eggs. If there is no invoice, authenticity is difficult to prove. There are experts who are also sellers; one could speak of a kind of dealers,” says Tatiana Fabergé.