Fabergé eggs are jewels of great historical value, thanks to the richness of its materials and the hands by which they were created. Peter Carl Fabergé, of Russian origin was born in 1846, in Saint Petersburg, a jeweler by family tradition, he completely revolutionized the world of jewelry. When he began creating for Tsar Alexander III in 1885, eggs made of metals and precious jewels contained a surprise inside. In total 69 eggs were created, of which 61 are preserved. The remaining 8 imperial Fabergé eggs are considered lost or missing.
Fabergé, was educated and trained in Germany, England, France and Italy. In 1866, at the age of 24, he becomes independent and takes control of his father’s workshop for 10 years, after his death. Thanks to the quality and originality of his work with the eggs, was considered the Official jeweler of the Russian Imperial Court.
Fabergé Easter eggs are unique pieces that for more than a century were the fruit of the demands of the czars and synonymous with extreme luxury worldwide. These were created in metals such as gold, silver, platinum, inlaid with precious stones such as ruby, sapphire, diamond or emerald. The designs were very ornate, in the rococo style. It is said that the inspiration for his creation came from the journeys of the goldsmith or the Hermitage museum.
According to experts, Fabergé made 69 Easter eggsfor the tsars, the aristocracy, the industrial and financial elite, of which only 61 are preserved. Also, of these 61, 52 belonged to the Russian royal family.
However, after the fall of the Romanov family during the Russian Revolution, the imperial eggs were stolen and scattered around the world, leading to an unprecedented Easter egg hunt. Some claim that many are in private collections, others that they are in museums, and some have disappeared completely.
One of these is the imperial Fabergé egg of the vanity case, created in 1889, it survived the Russian Revolution, but was sold in 1952 by a family of collectors to a mysterious buyer. His whereabouts later became unknown. The same was full of emeralds, rubies and diamonds; and it was used to store beauty accessories, such as hairpins and makeup brushes. Who will have it? It is one of the biggest questions.
Another of these eggs, after being seen for the last time in 1902, almost ended up melted down in the United States, as it ended up in the hands of a scrap dealer; luckily its value was found out and it was auctioned off to a collector.
Finally, Fabergé was probably one of the most outstanding jewelers in the world, because he not only accumulated experience, but also incredible creations for both the Russian tsars and important personalities of the time; he additionally left an important legacy for history for his particular way of making and understanding jewelry. Meanwhile the mystery of the missing eggs will continue…