A Fabergé egg is one of a limited number of jeweled eggs created by Peter Carl Fabergé and his company from 1885 to 1917. The most famous of the eggs are the ones made for the Russian Tsars Alexander III and Nicholas II as Easter gifts for their wives and mothers, often called the ‘Imperial’ Fabergé eggs.
The House of Fabergé made about 50 eggs and 43 have survived. Another two were planned for Easter 1918, but because of the Russian Revolution were not delivered.
The Hen Egg was that very first egg Empress Maria received; the one that started it all. It appeared to be a plain, white enamel egg, but looks can be deceiving. Inside the egg was, naturally, yolk made of gold, to be precise. Inside the yolk was a little golden hen. You might think it ends here, but no ,inside the hen were two tiny but pricey gifts a diamond miniature of the royal crown, and a tiny ruby egg pendant that could be hung on a necklace. The Hen Egg itself is still around, but the tiny presents within the golden hen have been missing for a number of years now.
The Diamond Trellis Egg is a work of art before you even open it. It’s carved from a pale green jadeite and wrapped in a trellis of rose-cut diamonds. Hidden inside was a tiny little elephant made of ivory and gold, also covered in rose-cut diamonds and brilliant diamonds. The really cool thing? He was a little wind-up toy. The elephant came with a key and when the Empress was so inclined, she could wind him up and watch him walk. These little hidden treasures were apparently hard to hold on to, because the elephant has also been lost to history.
The Bay Tree Egg stands at not quite a foot tall, but what it lacks in height it makes up for in luxury. You’ve got a treasure chest of gems here: diamonds, citrines, amethysts, rubies, agate and pearls. Not to mention gold, enamel and feathers. When Tsar Nicholas gave this egg to his widowed mother in 1911, she would have had to closely examine the leaves on the egg to find a little gold winding mechanism tucked inside. When she turned it, the top part of the egg rose up and a tiny little feathered nightingale popped out to sing a little ditty, flap its wings and move its beak. When he was done singing, the bird and the top of the egg all descended back down.
Don’t think that these little surprises were easy for Faberge to make he toiled long and hard on them. The Peacock Egg took three years of trial and error before it was ready to be given to the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. When the crystal egg was opened, a golden tree was revealed with a golden peacock perched in its branches. The coolest part? It could be removed from the tree and wound up, where it would walk around and spread its tail feathers.
The Rock Crystal Egg is seriously intricate. First of all, a 27-carat Siberian emerald sits on top of the egg. That would be enough for me, you know? But inside the egg was a golden support that held not one painting, not two paintings, not even three paintings ““ there were 12 teeny, tiny little paintings of palaces and buildings that had special meaning for Empress Alexandra. These included the palace where she was born, the Winter Palace where she and Nicholas were married, and favorite vacation homes. It was very sentimental to the Empress and she kept it in her study at the Winter Palace. The egg is now at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.