‘Exquisite’ jewel-studded Faberge egg sells for world record £22.9 million at London auction
Royal family gift thought to be lost for decades sets auction record
- The Faberge Winter Egg, commissioned in 1913 by Emperor Nicholas II for his mother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, sold for a record £22.9 million at a London auction.
- Christie's confirmed the sale of the imperial creation, described as one of Faberge's most lavish works, for £22,895,000.
- The sale shattered the previous world auction record for a Faberge piece by over £13 million, surpassing the Rothschild Egg's £8.9 million sale in 2007.
- This marks the third time the Winter Egg has set a record price for a Faberge item, reaffirming its enduring significance and rarity.
- The egg has a complex history, including being sold by the Soviet government, believed lost for two decades, and previously setting world records at Christie's in 1994 and 2002.