Fabergé eggs: the enigmatic and extravagant objects of the Russian imperial family that are now worth millions

Today, according to several historians and art experts, these pieces have an “incalculable” value.

Not only for the design, which was in the hands of Peter Carl Fabergé, the famous jeweler who gives them their name, but also for the mystery of their whereabouts.

The enigmatic eggs have returned to the fore in recent days after US officials said they found one on the yacht of a Russian businessman, seized after sanctions for the war in Ukraine.

But why were Fabergé eggs lost?

Peter Carl Fabergé was born in Saint Petersburg in 1846, the son of the German jeweler Gustav Fabergé, a descendant of Huguenots, and the Danish Charlotte Jungstedt.

With the death of his father, in 1882, he took over the jewelry store located in the Russian capital.

Some biographies claim that, in addition to studying with his father, Fabergé traveled to Frankfurt and Dresden, Germany, to enter the world of jewelry.

After producing the first egg for the royal family, he managed to be named the “Jeweler of the Imperial Court”. From there, his career took off.

At one point, the business became so important that he expanded it outside of Russia, opening stores in London and Odessa.

However, his fame was not only acquired by his connection with the Romanov dynasty. Some experts recognize his enormous artistic talent.

“Critics and collectors are torn between praising the Russian jeweler for his perfectionism or condemning him for his excesses,” says BBC culture journalist Jonathan Glancey.

The “excessive” Fabergé eggs, as critics describe it, require painstaking and extensive work to create.

The jeweler supervised the operation, but specialists in different areas, such as diamond cutting or metal manipulation, worked in his workshop.

“Eggs were exceptional objects,” Glancey points out.

Some were covered with thin layers of lacquer or gemstones that were acquired from the Ural Mountains or the Altai Mountains.

And inside the eggs, the royal family always found a surprise. It could be anything from a miniature music box, the 18th century Gatchina Palace and even an elephant.

Others, like the first one, known as the “Chicken Egg,” “had an almost pure design,” adds Glancey.

This first egg, which is currently in the Fabergé Museum in Saint Petersburg, is one of the most iconic.

It is a small white enamel piece measuring about 3.81 centimeters.

Inside it, as usual, was a hidden treasure: a second golden egg, which had a golden hen inside.

Below the small figure was a crown with diamonds and a pendant with a ruby.

The reign of the legendary Romanov dynasty ended in 1917 when the Bolshevik revolution took control of Russia.

Nicholas II, his wife and their five daughters were shot in 1918 and the crown’s assets were nationalized.

The same fate befell the Fabergé House, something that forced Peter Carl to leave the country.

The jeweler died two years later in Switzerland.

And the eggs, adds Glancey, were “packaged” along with other Romanov treasures and taken to the Kremlin.

But years later Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union, sold 14 of these eggs to attract foreign currency to Russia.

Some eggs ended up in private collections, museums and other institutions. However, the whereabouts of seven of them are unknown.

After the decline of jewelry, the famous surname was appropriated and registered in the United States in 1937 by Samuel Rubin to sell perfumes.

In 1951, Rubin agreed to pay the Fabergé family to use the name, but not just for decorative items.

The brand ended up being the name of a line of sanitary products, such as detergent and sink cleaner.

It was also used for an aftershave lotion.

But after complex negotiations, in 2007 the name was rescued by Pallinghurst Resources, an international investment consultancy, and Fabergé Ltd. was founded.

Control was taken over by Tatiana and Sarah Fabergé, great-granddaughters of Peter Carl Fabergé, with the intention of manufacturing luxury items and jewelry.

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