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The most lavish Easter eggs

Heres a look at some of Fabergs one-of-a-kind Imperial Easter Eggs, which are among the most iconic jeweled artworks in the world.

You know Easter has ended when the tons of chocolate eggs and bunnies, and candy-filled plastic eggs have disappeared off the supermarket shelves. For many years now, its been a common practice for people to give chocolate eggs and sweets to their family and friends during this Christian festival to celebrate Jesus Christs resurrection. And the custom of giving eggs during Easter celebrates new life.

But this was not always the case in the past. Many decades ago, people used to give gifts of eggs carved from wood or precious stones, as they wanted to make the moment of sharing last. And for the Russian Tsars at the turn of the 20th century, gifts were a lot more expensive, and much less edible.

The birth of the first Faberg Imperial Easter Egg The Hen Egg

In 1885, Tsar Alexander III had the idea of commissioning Faberg to create a precious Easter egg as a surprise for his wife, Empress Marie Fedorovna, to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary, which also coincided with the celebration of Easter in the Orthodox calendar, and thus the first Imperial Easter egg was born.

The Hen Egg
The Hen Egg

The Hen Egg.

Known as the Hen Egg, Faberg designed the egg to be made entirely out of gold, then coated with opaque white enamel to look like a real egg shell. The two halves of the outer shell open to reveal a gold yolk with a matte finish, and contains a varicoloured gold hen with ruby eyes.

Originally, the Hen Egg also contained a minute diamond replica of the Imperial Crown from which a small ruby pendant egg was suspended. Unfortunately these last two surprises are now missing.

The Empresss delight at this intriguing gift with its hidden jeweled surprises was the starting point for the yearly Imperial tradition that continued for 32 years until 1917 and produced the most opulent and captivating Easter gifts the world has ever seen. The eggs were private and personal gifts, and the whole spectacular series charted the romantic and tragic story leading up to the end of the mighty Romanovs.

Lilies of the Valley Egg
Lilies of the Valley Egg

Lilies of the Valley Egg.

Other Notable Imperial Easter Eggs

The Winter Egg

Designed by Alma Pihl who is famed for her series of diamond snowflakes, The Winter Egg was an Easter present from Tsar Nicholas II to his mother, The Dowager Empress Maria in 1913.

The Winter Egg is embellished with engraving, and ornamented with platinum and diamonds, to resemble frost. The egg rests on a rock-crystal base designed as a block of melting ice. Its surprise is a magnificent and platinum basket of exuberant wood anemones. The flowers are made from white quartz, nephrite, gold and demantoid garnets and they emerge from moss made of green gold. Its overall height is 14.2cm, and is set with 3,246 diamonds. The egg sold at Christies in New York in 2002 for US$9.6 million.

The Coronation Egg

The Imperial Coronation Egg is a jeweled Faberg egg made under the supervision of the Russian jeweller Peter Carl Faberg in 1897 by Faberg ateliers, Mikhail Perkhin and Henrik Wigstrom. The egg was made to commemorate the 1896 Coronation of Czar Nicholas II and his wife Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna. The Coronation Egg was then presented as an Easter gift to Empress Alexandra by her husband Tsar Nicholas II.

Enameled a deep gold hue and adorned with a trellis of diamond-set Imperial eagles, the breathtaking design of the Coronation Egg was inspired by the gold-embroidered and ermine-trimmed robes worn by the Imperial couple during the festivities. When opened, the surprise inside the egg was a removable replica of the coach that carried Empress Alexandra to the coronation ceremony.

The red colour of the original coach was recreated using strawberry coloured translucent enamel and the blue upholstery of the interior was also reproduced in enamels. The coach is surmounted by the Imperial Crown in rose diamonds and six double-headed eagles on the roof; it is fitted with engraved rock crystal windows and platinum tyres decorated with a diamond-set trellis in gold and an Imperial eagle in diamonds at either door. The miniature is complete with moving wheels, opening doors, actual C-spring shock absorbers and a tiny folding step-stair.

Missing surprises include an emerald or diamond pendant that hung inside the replica coach, a glass-enclosed jadeite stand for the display of the carriage as well as a stand made of silver-gilt wire.

Faberge Coronation Egg
Faberge Coronation Egg

The Coronation Egg.

(Photos by Miguel Hermoso Cuesta and VOA - A. Greenbaum; Wikimedia Commons)

Article and images contributed by Michelle Yee.

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