Rare Fabergé egg expected to set new record in London auction

A rare crystal-and-diamond Fabergé egg commissioned by Imperial Russia's Czar Nicholas II is set to be auctioned in London, with an estimated value of more than $26.4 million.

The "Winter Egg" will go under the hammer at one of the world's leading auction houses Christie's in the British capital on December 2, according to The Jewellery Editor.

Christie's says the extraordinary piece—crafted by legendary Russian goldsmith Peter Carl Fabergé—is one of only seven remaining eggs held still in private ownership while the vast majority of the 43 imperial Fabergé eggs known to have survived, most are now held in museum collections.

Fabergé, a St. Petersburg-based jeweler of Baltic German descent, produced more than 50 of these intricate eggs for the Russian imperial family between 1885 and 1917. Each was uniquely designed and contained a hidden surprise. The tradition began with Czar Alexander III, who presented an egg to his wife every Easter. His successor, Nicholas II, continued the custom, gifting eggs to both his wife and his mother. This particular egg was commissioned in 1913 as a present for Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna.

The imperial Easter eggs are widely regarded as the pinnacle of jewelry craftsmanship. Today, they reside in major museums and select royal collections, as is the case with the only other "Winter Egg," which is held by the British royal family.

Standing 10 centimeters tall, the egg is carved from rock crystal and decorated with a delicate snowflake motif in platinum and 4,500 tiny diamonds. Inside, it holds a removable basket of jeweled quartz flowers representing the arrival of spring.

According to Christie's, the "Winter Egg" was purchased by a London dealer for 450 pounds when the cash-strapped Communist government sold off some of Russia’s artistic treasures in the 1920s following the fall of the Romanovs. It later changed owners several times. Long thought lost, it reappeared when Christie’s auctioned it in 1994 for more than 7 million Swiss francs (around $5.6 million), and again by the auction house's New York branch in 2002 for $9.6 million. It has been held in a Qatari collection ever since.

Experts predict the egg may exceed the record $18.5 million paid at a 2007 Christie’s auction for another Fabergé egg created for the Rothschild banking family.

By Nazrin Sadigova