Between 1885 and 1917, the House of Fabergé built 50 jeweled Easter eggs for the Russian tsars — lavish confections of gold, enamel, and gems, each hiding a tiny surprise inside, given by Alexander III and Nicholas II to the women of the imperial family. Then came the 1917 revolution. The Bolsheviks seized the Fabergé workshop, Stalin later sold many of the eggs abroad for hard currency, and in the upheaval six of the Imperial eggs disappeared.
Forty-four are accounted for today. The other six, all once owned by the dowager empress Maria Feodorovna, remain missing, with only old photographs surviving of three of them. The eggs that do surface command staggering sums; the Winter Egg sold for about $30 million in 2025.
In1887, the Third Imperial Egg surfaced at an American flea market around 2004, remained unrecognized for years, and was identified online in 2012 — then bought by the London dealer Wartski for a private collector.
Previously:
• Pub thief who nabbed handbag didn't realize it had $3m Fabergé egg in it
• Fabergé pendant recovered from man who ate it
