Newsletter 2025 Spring
- Third Imperial Fabergé Easter Egg Spotted in a Cottage Palace Photograph
- Unusual Fabergé Finds Shared by Our Newsletter Readers Worldwide
During the research for our forthcoming monograph, Fabergé at the Palaces, we recognized on a June 1900 archival photograph the 1887 Third Imperial Egg (A.) in Empress Maria Feodorovna’s (1847-1928) Boudoir in the Cottage Palace, her Peterhof summer residence near St. Petersburg, Russia. The Fabergé egg was an Easter gift to the Empress by her husband, Emperor Alexander III (1847-1894), and it is the only known photograph of an Imperial Faberge egg traveling with the Imperial Family.1 It is somewhat ironic such an honor would be bestowed on the 1887 Third Imperial Egg unknown and missing until its rediscovery in 2012.
Alexandrovna (1875-1960), Daughter of Emperor Alexander III and Maria Feodorovna, Seated by the 1887 Third Imperial Egg in
Empress Maria Feodorovna’s (1847-1928) Boudoir in the Peterhof Cottage Palace, Her Summer Residence Near St. Petersburg, Russia.
(Courtesy GARF 662-2-47122, State Archive of the Russian Federation)
Reconstructing the published history2 of the long-lost Imperial Fabergé Easter Egg required the dedicated research of many Fabergé enthusiasts since 2007 with a few highlights over the years:
- In 2007, Anna and Vincent Palmade found the egg in Maria Feodorovna’s vitrine at the 1902 von Dervis Exhibition – they mistakenly thought it was the 1889 Necessaire Egg until Annemiek Wintraecken established it was the 1887 Third Egg with her 2008 revised Egg Chronology.3
- In 2011, Anna and Vincent Palmade found a black and white photograph of an egg matching the 1902 illustration in a Parke Bernet, New York, March 6-7, 1964, Lot 259, auction catalog and shared the details at a Fabergé symposium in Richmond, Virginia, on July 2011.
- The Third egg was found in 2012 by an unsuspecting owner (a scrap dealer from the American Midwest), who recognized it in the 1964 picture published in The Telegraph on August 13, 20114, and later sold privately for an undisclosed sum following its authentication by the London Fabergé dealer Wartski.
- June 4-5, 2015 – Kieran McCarthy of Wartski in a slide presentation (English and Russian) during the Fabergé Symposium at the Fabergé Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia, gave a first-hand account of the re-discovered 1887 Third Imperial Easter Egg.
Photograph of the “Cottage Egg”
(Working term used by the authors, i.e.,
the 1887 Third Imperial Egg (A.)
in the Cottage Palace)
(GARF 662-2-47122)
von Dervis Exhibition (Swezey,
Marilyn Pfeifer, “Fabergé: His
Hardstone Creations and His
Clients” in Walters Art Museum
and the Fabergé Arts Foundation
Publication, The Fabergé Menagerie,
2003, p. 22; Wintraecken, Annemiek,
“The Fabergé Imperial Easter Eggs:
New Discoveries Revise Timeline”
(Fabergé Research Newsletter,
November 2008)
and Sold by Wartski, British Fabergé Dealer
(Courtesy Wartski; McCanless, Christel Ludewig, “Third
Imperial Easter Egg by Fabergé Found! A Research
Chronology”, Fabergé Research Newsletter, Summer 2014)
For the current essay published ten years later in 2025, it is our delight Dmitry Krivoshey joined us to study clues which led to finding the identification of the 1887 Third Imperial Egg (A.) on the 1900 archival photograph. Juxtaposing the 1900 photograph of the “Cottage Egg” (B.1) with photographs of the 1887 Third Imperial Egg at the Charity Exhibition of Fabergé Artistic Objects, Old Miniatures, and Snuff Boxes was held in St. Petersburg, Russia, at the von Dervis Mansion in March 1902 (B.2), and at Wartski in 2014 (B.3) allowed a positive identification based on the following considerations:
- The overall shape, dimensions and proportions of the “Cottage Egg” match perfectly the Third Imperial Egg, taking into account the “Cottage Egg” is standing behind a flat object, cutting off the bottom of its ‘legs’.
- The bottom third of the “Cottage Egg” is barely visible in the shadow making it look spherical (the same effect is seen in the von Dervis photograph). Conversely, the reeding (ornamentation) on the “Cottage Egg” is not visible, because of the bright reflection of the sun (the reeding on the left side of the Third Imperial Egg is similarly flushed-out by the sun in the von Dervis photograph).
- The garland going down from the rounded tops of the legs and back up around the sapphire are clearly visible in the 1900 photograph, and so is the distinctive shape of the rounded tops of the legs (including the little rectangles above them), together with the small garlands going below and around them. It is particularly clear by comparing the 1900 photograph with the 2014 one, both taken at the same angle.
- The push diamond is also visible on the 1900 photograph (A.), slightly turned to the left, not perfectly centered with the sapphire. The casual positioning suggests the Third Imperial Egg was regularly used as a portable watch (the surprise within it), which also explains why it was traveling with the Empress.
Clues leading to the location of the 1900 photograph in the Cottage Palace are from a 1900-1902 photograph album of Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna (1875-1960, sister of Emperor Nicholas II, 1875-1906) now in the custody of the State Archive of the Russian Federation (GARF). The June 1900 photograph (A.) taken during one of the Grand Duchess’ visits to her mother, the Empress Maria Feodorovna, shows the Grand Duchess sitting for the photographer, who may well have been her mother, Maria Feodorovna. At the time, Grand Duchess Xenia was staying in her nearby Farm Palace where she was enjoying her own Fabergé treasures.5 But the question remained: In which room of the Cottage Palace was the photograph taken? Answering this question proved challenging because the 1900 photograph does not show much of the room. However, an Eduard Hau ca. 1835 painting (C.) in an American Museum matched the archival 1900 photograph of the Cottage Palace with the now-recognized 1887 Third Imperial Easter Egg by Fabergé provided the answer:
The Elaborate Frame Containing an Angel and the Wooden Spikes in the Hau Painting are a Match to the 1900 Photograph of the Boudoir (Right)
in the Peterhof Cottage Palace, Maria Feodorovna’s Summer Residence near St. Petersburg, Russia.
(Courtesy: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City, and GARF 662-2-47122)
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A painting of an angel with an elaborate frame and a folding screen (C.) with distinctive wooden spikes is seen next to the entrance to an external covered passageway on the right of the ca.1835 painting by Edward Hau.
- The same elaborate frame and distinctive wooden spikes (protruding from behind another folding screen) is seen in the same location in the 1900 photograph with the curtains of the entrance to the external covered passageway also visible behind the wooden spikes.
In addition to the Third Imperial Egg, photographs of Empress Maria Feodorovna’s sons – Nicholas (1868-1918), George (1871-1899) and Michael (1878-1918) are shown in the 1900 photograph on either side of the Third Imperial Fabergé Egg and on the commode (A.) left of Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna (1875-1960). Clearly, the little corner of her Boudoir in the Cottage Palace must have been very dear to the Empress.
1 Fabergé, Tatiana, Proler, Lynette, and Valentin Skurlov. The Fabergé Imperial Eggs, 1997, p. 253, presents excerpts from the 1891 Gatchina Palace Inventory showing some of the Imperial Faberge Eggs were traveling with the Imperial Family.
2 McCanless, Christel Ludewig, “Third Imperial Easter Egg by Fabergé Found! A Research Chronology”, Fabergé Research Newsletter: Third Imperial Egg (1887) see also Imperial Egg Discoveries (11.08) | Summer 11 (Special Edition) | Fall 11 | Winter 11-12 | Summer 14 | Winter 14 | Summer 15 | Summer 18 | Spring 23.
3 Imperial Egg Discoveries (11.08)
4 Nikkhah, Roya, “Is This £20 Million Nest-Egg on Your Mantelpiece?“, The Telegraph, August 13, 2011.
5 Palmade, Anna and Vincent, and Dmitry Krivoshey, “Battered Fabergé Survivors from the 1902 von Dervis Exhibition”, Fabergé Research Newsletter, Spring 2023.
– Active 1903-1917
Two Fabergé auction lots (A.- B.) related to and by Fabergé workmaster Henrik Wigström yielded outstanding results at Christie’s New York, Collections: Including Property from Three Northeast Collectors, Glenn C. Randall, Dr. Jeffrey Lant, and Peter Van Slyke, October 22, 2024:
(A.) Silver-Mounted Leather Family
Photograph Album of Henrik Wigström
by Fabergé, Workmaster Karl (Hjalmar)
Armfelt, St. Petersburg, 1908-1917.
Lot 219, Estimate $5,000 – $7,000,
Sold for $22,680.
(B.) Guilloché Enamel, Two-Color
Gold-Mounted Silver-Gilt Desk Clock by
Fabergé, Workmaster Henrik Wigström,
St. Petersburg, 1908-1917. Lot 178,
Estimate $200,000 – $250,000,
Sold for $504,000.
(B.) The research literature and numerous exhibitions as well as the lengthy auction lot essay for the Wigström clock are quite extensive and fascinating.
British Antiques Roadshow Finds
Fabergé objects are authenticated on the British television program Antiques Roadshow (AR) broadcast by the BBC (British Broadcasting Company). Antiques appraisers travel to various regions of the United Kingdom, and short videos are recorded of the surprised owners with their objects. Geoffrey Munn is the featured Fabergé expert authenticating objects in frequently-changing YouTube videos. Recent discoveries:
(D.) Greatest Finds: Fabulous Fabergé BBC Antiques Roadshow UK, 1999-2021
(Shared by Juan Déniz, Gran Canaria)
Greg King (1964-2025) published on the Internet before his recent death a very comprehensive historical research essay (F.) for a Fabergé hand seal (E.) which he first encountered in a Fabergé book in the early 1980’s, and then he mentions, “I came across it again, this time in real life, in 1997.” (Shared by Katrina Warne, UK)
Cited in the Fabergé Research Newsletter, Spring 2013:
(F.) King, Greg, “Epiphany, Reminder of a Near Tradegy“, February 11, 2025: “Crafted by Henrik Wigström for the St. Petersburg workshop of jeweler Karl Fabergé, it is composed of a trumpet-shaped body in burnished red gold and embellished with trailing laurels of chased green gold. The seal, of white chalcedony, bears the insignia of Nicholas II and the Order of St. Andrei. And surmounting it all is a steel sphere, slightly flattened. It would seem to be an odd choice of ornament for so delicate an objet d’art, but an inscription circling the base tells the story: “In Memory of the Salute of January 6, 1905.”
(G.) 1899 Pansy Egg by Fabergé has been in the Stream
Collection, an American private collection since 1947.
(Courtesy Matilda Geddings Gray Foundation Collection,
New Orleans, Louisiana)
For more details visit Mieks Fabergé Eggs.
3D Model may be purchased and used for teaching
purposes with permission by the company which made the
modern model using computer technology.
(Courtesy TurboSquid)
Carved in the Style of Fabergé, Nephrite and Gem-set
Egg-form Carving “The Pansy Egg”
(Bonhams, Los Angeles, May 21, 2019, Lot 811;
also seen in Hermitage Magazine, Summer 2003)
“Horizontal, the egg is carved of milky quartz, with laurel-chased two-color rim, cabochon sapphire and arose-cut diamond-set thumbpiece.”
(Left: Fabergé. The McFerrin Collection: The Opulence Continues, 2016, p. 76 | Right: En situ Photograph from the 2024 McFerrin Fabergé
Exhibition, Houston, Texas, in a TikTok Video, Shared by Patricia Hazlett)
(I.) Description
Fabergé, workmaster Mikhail Perkhin, scratched inventory
number 4399
St. Petersburg, circa 1900
Height: 2 1/2″ x Diameter: 1 1/14″ (6.4 x 4.1 cm)
Carved and polished nephrite in the form of an egg, it is
hinged and mounted in gold with rose diamonds and a cabochon
ruby-set clasp. The egg is unique in that when it is unlatched,
it is hinged on the inside and opens horizontally as well as
vertically.
Provenance: A La Vieille Russie, New York
(From A Snowflake to an Iceberg, The McFerrin
Collection, 2013, p. 251)
(I.1) “Nephrite Egg, 9K Gold, Metal, Diamonds and Pink Stones” | Further described in the auction lot: “Open egg, hinged metal and gold frame
set with rose-cut diamonds and two cabochons of pink stones, (accidents). 6 cm high.” [Ed. Note: Fabergé is not mentioned]
(Bonhams, Cornette de Saint Cyr, Paris, November 20, 2024, French Collections including Silver, Lot 159)
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Toby Faber, author and long-time Fabergé enthusiast, will be giving two lectures, Fabergé’s Imperial Easter Eggs (from 1885 to Today), on August 11, 2025, in Charlestown, NSW, Australia
Faber, Toby. Fabergé’s Eggs: The Extra-Ordinary Story of the Masterpieces that Outlived an Empire, 2008. A historical narrative, new to the genre of Fabergé publications, brings the history of the Russian Romanov family and the House of Fabergé alive through a retelling of the story of the Fabergé eggs. Bolsheviks and entrepreneurs, tycoons and heiresses, con men and queens are introduced with well-researched and detailed facts as the eggs have been sold and smuggled, stolen and forged through the ages. Mr. Faber is a grandson of the Faber and Faber Publishing Company, which in 1953 published The Art of Carl Fabergé by A. Kenneth Snowman, still a classic in the field. British, American, and foreign language editions published. (Selected Fabergé Bibliography)
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Fabergé Masterpieces: The Exquisite Art of Imperial Eggs: Fifty minute video first shown on July 25, 2024, has been viewed by to 820,026 individuals in eleven months at Newsletter press time. (Shared by Riana Benko, Slovenia)
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Caroline de Guitaut, Surveyor of the King’s Works of Art at Royal Collection Trust, London (UK) presented her video, A Royal Treasury of Fabergé, on December 4, 2024. New information about 5 minutes into the video above supplements a recent article, “Research Highlights for the Fabergé 1897 Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee Brooch” (Fabergé Research Newsletter, Fall and Winter 2024). Revelations include the queen’s delight with the Fabergé brooch and a jubilee telegram message from Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, Queen Victoria’s granddaughter.
This paper explores the rich holdings of works by the Russian goldsmith and jeweler Carl Fabergé (1846-1920) in the British Royal Collection. Formed by six successive generations of the Royal Family, the collection represents the finest and most historically important assemblage of Fabergé in the world. The collection is remarkably diverse containing examples of every type of objet de vertu created by the Fabergé firm, from jeweled Imperial Easter Eggs, carved hardstone animals, gold and diamond snuffboxes to a vast array of decorative pieces incorporating the virtuoso techniques for which the firm was renowned. In preparation for a forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the collection, new research has shed light on the history and provenance of several important pieces which will be referenced in this presentation.
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Nicholas and Alexandra. Burbank (CA): Video distributed by RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video, 1971. Paul Gilbert (Ontario, Canada) on his website Nicholas Emperor II – Tsar – Saint looks back at the history (both pros and cons) of a 1971 video: “The year 2021 marked the 50th anniversary of the release of the film adaptation of Robert K. Massie’s (1929-2019) classic book Nicholas and Alexandra. Published in 1967, it remained on the New York Times Bestseller List for 46 weeks, and has never gone out of print! Selling more than 4.5 million copies, it is regarded as one of the most popular historical studies ever published …” (Published February 7, 2025)
Fabergé Auction Results
May 13, 2025 – Heritage, Dallas (TX). Triangular Rothchild clock
did not sell, and is now for sale at $250,000
(its low estimate, and includes buyer’s premium).
May 16, 2025 – Sotheby’s, Geneva. Nobel
Clock: Sold for 127,000 CHF ($151,576)
Estimate: 60,000-80,000 CHF.
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May 13, 2025 – Heritage, Dallas (TX), Imperial Fabergé & Russian Works of Art.
Press Release: “Imperial Fabergé & Russian Works Realize $2.45 Million in Heritage’s May 13 Auction”.
Fabergé Rϋckert punch set sold for $750,000, with a buyer’s premium. The triangular Rothchild clock did not sell. - May 16, 2025 – Sotheby’s Geneva, Fabergé, Gold Boxes & Vertu | Including the Castle Howard Collection. Helen Culver Smith of Sotheby’s London narrates a video about the Fabergé animals at auction. The Castle Howard Animal Collection auction highlights: Obsidian Rhinoceros, 279,400 CHF, Bloodstone Anteater, 254,000 CHF, Two Ibexes Collectively Sold for 177,800 CHF.
1 Tillander-Godenhielm, Ulla. Fabergé: His Masters and Artisans, 2018, pp. 87-133. The publication about Carl Fabergé and his workmasters – actually an augmented English translation of the 2011 Finnish-language publication, Fabergén suomalaiset mestarit (Fabergé’s Finnish Workmasters) – by Ulla Tillander-Godenhielm has again contributed important information and insights into the workings of the famed Fabergé firm. Unfortunately, the majority of Fabergé scholars and enthusiasts do not read Finnish, so this English translation is a vital addition to the Fabergé scholarly corpus. (Faberge Research Site, “Selected Fabergé Bibliography“, 2018)
(Updates are posted in Exhibitions on the Fabergé Research Site)
Fabergé Silver and Sandstone Elephant
(Courtesy A La Vieille Russie, New York)
A new exciting discovery shared by Chad Solon (USA):
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The Imperial Red Cross Easter Egg (1915) in the Cleveland Museum of Art (OH) is presented as a moving 3D model. On the Fabergé Research Site in the “Fabergé Imperial Egg Chronology” the egg is listed with another name, Red Cross Triptych Egg (A.), since two Red Cross eggs were created by the Fabergé firm in the same year. The other one (B.) is the Red Cross Portraits Egg (1915) in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond (VA).
(A.) 1915 Red Cross Triptych Egg Given to Alexandra
Feodorovna, Gift from Nicholas II; Cost 3,600 rubles.
Now a 3D presentation.
(Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio)
(B.) 1915 Red Cross Portraits Egg Given to Marie
Feodorovna, Gift from Nicholas II; Cost 3,875 rubles.
(B.1. Open) Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, Tsar’s sister | Grand Duchess Olga Nicolaievna, His Eldest Daughter | Empress Alexandra Feodorovna
Grand Duchess Tatiana Nicolaievna, Tsar’s second daughter | Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna, Tsar’s first cousin
(Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia) - Fabergé Museum in St. Petersburg has close-up views for the 15th Anniversary Egg and the Coronation Egg suitable for more detailed research.
Questions:
Are there more 3D Fabergé objects available on other museum websites? Please share.
News:
Happenings in France and Russia:
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The Louvre Unveils Fabergé Triptych with Romanov Family Provenance
(C.) Fabergé Icon (Mikhail Perkhin, 1860-1903) Presented by Members of the
Russian Aristocracy to Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna
was “recently acquired for $2.5 million…The triptych will be installed as a central
feature of the Department for Byzantine and Eastern Christian Art in the Louvre’s
Denon wing when the department opens officially in 2027″.
(Amy Elliott, Galerie Magazine, May 22, 2025) -
Fabergé Items Added to the Funds of the Nicholas II Museum in Kotelniki, 14 miles southeast of the center of Moscow, Russia.
- New Fabergé Exhibition Opens in Vladivostock, a Russian city known as the terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railway, which links the city to Moscow in a 7-day journey.
United States:
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The venue, From Exile to Avant-Garde: The Life of Princess Natalie Paley (June 7, 2025 – January 11, 2026), at the Hillwood Estate and Gardens in Washington (DC) includes some of her Fabergé pieces.
- New Permanent Exhibition Opened in Late 2024 – Fabergé: Eggs and Timeless Treasures (D.) features objects from the Artie and Dorothy McFerrin Collection on loan to the Houston Museum of Natural Science, Texas. Highlights include the 1892 Diamond Trellis Egg, 1902 Kelch Rocaille Egg, 1913 Nobel Ice Egg, the Grand Duchess Alexandra’s Aquamarine Tiara (E.) and a selection of imperial presentation boxes, cigarette cases, hardstone flowers, and finely carved animals. If you cannot go in person, enjoy the TikTok video of the new Fabergé exhibition in Brown Hall at the Houston Museum of Natural Science in Texas (USA).
(D.) 1902 Kelch Rocaille Egg Announcing
the Houston Museum of Natural Science
Fabergé Exhibition
(Courtesy Houston Museum of National
Science, Texas)
(E.) Aquamarine Tiara Designed in 1904 for Princess Alexandra of
Hanover, in Celebration of Her Marriage to the Grand Duke of
Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Frederick Franz IV.
(McFerrin Collection)