A Fabergé egg is among the rare number of jewelled eggs produced by Peter Carl Fabergé and his venture from 1885 to 1917. After he was assigned to make an Easter egg for the royal family in Russia in 1885, the royals liked what he created to the extent that eggs were produced each year from then on. Fabergé created one egg a year for Tsar Alexander, while he made two every year following Nicholas II’s coronation. Faberge eggs
Every egg produced required one year or more, done together with a team of very skilled craftsmen that worked with the highest secrecy. Fabergé was offered absolute freedom to design and execute the eggs as he wanted, only that he had to make sure there was no foreign element within any creation. Faberge eggs
The eggs became very pricey, and no amount was left behind for their creation. For instance, those he produced in 1900, The Trans-Siberian Railway egg, was created out of silver, onyx, gold, and quartz, and its interior was laced with velvet. Faberge eggs
Interesting facts about Faberge eggs
Fabergé created a total of sixty-nine well-jewelled eggs.
On the whole, sixty-nine finely jewelled Easter eggs were created by Fabergé from 1883 to 1917. Fifty of these eggs were produced for the Russian Royal family and were tagged as the ‘Imperial Eggs’. The remaining eggs were meant for the aristocratic, the financial and the industrial elite. They are called Fabergé eggs because they denote evident luxury, but of the initial sixty-nine, only sixty-one were left. Faberge eggs
One was discovered at a flea market.
Surprisingly, in 2014, an American scrap metal dealer purchased the golden egg from a flea market for $13,300 (£8000), not knowing what he had received. When he could not sell it as potential buyers thought it was highly-priced, he chose to inspect the piece a little more. Only to realize that in actuality, he was the owner of a once missing Imperial Egg valued at £20 million. A private collector currently owns the egg. Empress Maria Feodorovna received the item known as the Third Imperial Egg during the Easter celebration in 1887. Faberge eggs
Fabergé also produced eggs for another Imperial Russian family.
Another customer Fabergé had while the Romanovs were also patronizing him was Alexander Kelch. He designated a total of seven eggs for his spouse, Barbara and the popularKelch Gothic Revival silver service, too; believed by Fabergé to be the essential silver masterpiece made in his workshop. Even though the eggs produced for other families were very exquisite, none equalled the generosity of the Imperial eggs. Faberge eggs
The Earliest Faberge egg was termed the Hen Egg.
It was created from gold, its non-luminous white enamelled ‘shell’ opened to display its first surprise, a matt yellow gold yolk. It as well exposes to show a multi-coloured, well-chased gold hen that opens up too. Initially, the Faberge egg had a miniature diamond replica of the Imperial Crown from which a tiny ruby pendant egg was hanging down. Luckily these last two surprises are now missing. Faberge eggs
Queen Elizabeth II has three of these eggs.
The British Royal Family owns the most essential of Faberge creations. Listed in the vast collection are three of the iconic eggs. Queen Elizabeth II’s grandmother, Queen Mary, purchased the Basket of Flowers, the Colonnade Egg Clock, and the Mosaic Egg. Perhaps the most elegant of them has the exact appearance of a flower basket; the elegant blooms still look very lifelike and vibrant. Faberge eggs
The British creations are essential because most of the 100+ masterpieces were either purchased right from Faberge or were received as gifts from families who also acquired them directly from their producer. It is among the enormous Faberge creations in the world, too, having lavishly delicate ornate boxes, hardstone flowers, photo frames, miniatures, figurines, and the most extensive collection of Faberge hardstone flower and animal studies. Faberge eggs
Kelch family
The Kelch family was another person Faberge delivered his products while serving the Imperial Romanovs. Alex Kelch was a wealthy industrialist that assigned seven eggs to his spouse during their engagement. They competed with the Imperial eggs in terms of ingenuity, beauty, and definitely, their precious stone lavishness. Each of the Kelch eggs was created by Faberge’s head workmaster, Michael Perchin, even one of the giant eggs ever made by the company—13.4 centimetres (5.3 in) in length. Faberge eggs
Yet, apart from the Apple Blossom Egg & the Pine Cone Egg, their creations were not unique and often shared similarities with the Imperialeggs. When they both went separate ways, Mrs Kelch took her Faberge eggs along to Paris. Six later found their way to the United States, and—maybe as a result of the impeccable craftsmanship—a fraction of them were mistaken as Royal eggs. It was later in 1979 that all seven eggs were identified correctly as belonging to the Kelch family. f
Full of surprises
Expert jeweller Peter Carl Faberge was offered absolute artistic freedom and could create the eggs based on whichever theme he desired. Only that he had to stick to one rule: Each of these eggs had to feature a surprise. Faberge did as expected by his royal patrons. In every ornate shell, he places a small marvel. The Hen Egg was opened to reveal a golden yolk. Within the yolk resided a pure gold hen, which is where the Hen Egg got its name. In the hen was a miniature diamond replica of the royal crown and a tiny ruby egg pendant.
A few other surprises include:
-A mechanical swan. Faberge eggs-An elephant. Faberge eggs
-A golden miniature of the palace. Faberge eggs
-Eleven tiny portraits on an easel. Faberge eggs
-An exact working replica of the Coronation carriage that took nearly 15 months to create.
Despite his enormous freedom with the designs of the eggs, Faberge always made them a tribute to something in the royals’ lives. The Red Cross Egg, for example, was created in 1915 to honour Empress Alexandra Fedorovna for her efforts in the Red Cross charity during World War I. Faberge eggs