Encrusted with more than 3,000 diamonds, the world's
most expensive Easter egg is being sold next month and experts believe
it might crack the million mark at auction.
The Winter Egg, produced by Carl Faberge and given by Russian
Czar Nicholas II to his mother on Easter 1913, will be sold on
April 19 at Christie's New York auction house. It previously sold
for .6 million in November 1994 at Christie's Geneva.
Faberge, jeweler to the Russian Imperial family, produced 50
eggs between 1885 and 1916 for Czars Alexander II and Nicholas
II, with the Winter Egg the most precious, according to documents
housed in the Russian State Archives.
The Winter Egg is made of finely-carved, transparent rock crystal
with engravings on the interior simulating ice crystals. The exterior
is engraved and applied with platinum-mounted rose-diamond motifs
and the egg sits on a detachable rock-crystal base.
Contained within the egg is a detachable surprise -- a basket
of delicate spring flowers, each carved from a single piece of
white quartz fashioned with gold wire stem and stamens, jade leaves
and green garnet centers.
The original Faberge bill shows that the Czar was charged 24,600
rubles and detailed the composition of the egg: the body set with
1,300 rose diamonds, the borders with 360 brilliants and the small
basket with 1,378 rose-diamonds.
Alexis de Tiesenhausen, head of the Russian Department at Christie's,
said the egg marked a special occasion.
He said, "1913 was a very important year in Russia. It was
the commemoration of three centuries of the Romanov Dynasty and
all the imperial family was lavished with gifts and when Easter
came up Faberge came up with a far more elaborate egg than he
did in the years before."
(Agencies)