Easter Eggs for the Rich and Famous...

If you ask me what comes to mind first when I think of Russia, I am a little ashamed to say that it isn't necessarily the architecture, the Kremlin, the ballet, the Matryoshka dolls, or even the vodka (..sorry!).  It is in fact the Eggs.  The iconic Fabergé eggs to be exact. 

I have a fascination with these beautiful jewel-encrusted Easter presents given between 1885 and 1916 to two Tsarinas, Marie and Alexandra, by their respective husbands, Tsar Alexander III and his son Tsar Nicholas II.

It is hard to say which, out of the 50 exquisite and extraordinary artefacts, designed by the legendary Carl Fabergé, is  my favourite.  But I think that I may have to say the 4 inch-high 1900 Trans-Siberian Railway egg, made of platinum, rose-cut diamonds, rubies and rock crystal.  It really is extraordinary and contains a perfect miniature clockwork replica of the train and its five carriages – one for mail, ladies only, smoking, non-smoking and chapel.  It even comes complete with ruby brake light on the rear fender. Just incredible!

It all started in the late 17th century when the Fabergé family fled persecution in France and settled in St Petersburg where they became official jewellers to the imperial family.  In 1885, Czar Alexander III commissioned Peter Carl Fabergé to craft an exquisite Easter egg for his wife, Empress Maria Fedorovna. The gift was a hit, and Fabergé went on to produce 50, what are now known as the Imperial Easter eggs, each of which contained a surprise inside.   

The fate of the clutch of the Imperial Easter Eggs is just as fascinating as the Russian history of that period.  The decline and fall of the Romanov Empire, the assassination of Tsar Alexander II, the Russian revolution of 1917 and the massacre a year later of the entire imperial family and their servants in a Yekaterinburg cellar all reads like an opera and is impossibly dramatic and intriguing.  Over the years the Imperial Eggs were variously lost, dispersed, hidden, smuggled, sold and faked and only 42 of the original 50 exist today. A story featured in The Guardian tells of the American oil billionaire Armand Hammer, who in the 1930's was paid by Stalin for his services as a Soviet agent in Fabergé eggs.  He later sold these on to collectors such as King Farouk and Malcolm Forbes.

Worth millions, most people love these exquisite eggs while a few I am sure see them as nothing more than a frivolous indulgence of a decadent monarchy.  Whatever your thoughts on them, there is no denying that each egg is not only a fragile memento of the doomed Russian dynasty but an extraordinary and absolutely amazing artistic masterpiece.

Happy Easter to you all!

Much love 

Cat x