# Third Imperial Easter Egg > House of Faberge, Saint Petersburg - 1886-1887, delivered for Orthodox Easter 1887 > Canonical HTML: https://iconotheca.com/artworks/house-of-faberge/third-imperial-faberge-egg/ > Published by Servola Systems GmbH. Last verified: 2026-08-30 ## Tombstone - **Artist:** House of Faberge, Saint Petersburg - **Date:** 1886-1887, delivered for Orthodox Easter 1887 - **Medium:** Gold, cabochon sapphires, old-mine and rose-cut diamonds; the surprise is a lady's watch in gold and white enamel by Vacheron and Constantin - **Dimensions:** 8.2 cm high; given as 3 1/4 inches in the 1964 Parke-Bernet catalogue - **Object type:** Goldsmith's work - **Period:** Historicism, 1830-1900 - **Current location:** Private collection, owner not named - **Attribution:** accepted ## Summary A gold Easter egg 8.2 centimetres high, delivered by the House of Faberge to Tsar Alexander III for 2,160 roubles and given to Empress Maria Feodorovna at Easter 1887. It opens to a lady's watch by Vacheron and Constantin. It was photographed once, in a vitrine at the von Dervis mansion in Saint Petersburg in March 1902, and then vanished into the Soviet liquidation of the Romanov treasure.It surfaced in New York in March 1964 as lot 259 at Parke-Bernet, catalogued as a gold watch in an egg-form case, with no mention of Faberge and no mention of the Russian imperial family, and sold for 2,450 US dollars. Four decades later a scrap metal dealer in the American Midwest bought it at an antiques stall for its melt value, could not find anyone willing to buy the gold at his price, and kept it at home for years. In 2012 he searched the internet for the two words he could read on it, egg and Vacheron Constantin, and found a newspaper article about a lost Faberge egg.The identification is secure and heavily documented. The money is not. The 1964 price of 2,450 dollars is a matter of public record; the sum the dealer paid is given variously as 13,000, 13,302 and 14,000 dollars; and the figure of about 33 million dollars attached to the 2014 sale is a press estimate of a private transaction that Wartski has never confirmed. This record separates the three. ## Provenance Every link carries a grade. `documented` means a cited source supports it, `disputed` means the identification is argued but not established, `unknown` means we have no owner for that span and have not bridged it. - **1887-1917** Empress Maria Feodorovna `[documented]` (gift) Delivered by the House of Faberge for Orthodox Easter 1887 and given by Alexander III to his wife. The Imperial Cabinet account books record the payment of 2,160 roubles on 18 May 1887 for an Easter egg with clock, decorated with diamonds, sapphires and rose-cut diamonds. Kept at the Anichkov Palace, Saint Petersburg. Publicly exhibited once, at the von Dervis mansion, Saint Petersburg, in March 1902. - **1917-1922** Confiscated Imperial property, Moscow Kremlin Armoury `[documented]` (confiscation) Wartski records that the Provisional Government listed the egg among the confiscated Imperial treasures transferred from the Anichkov Palace to the Moscow Kremlin Armoury in September 1917; The Magazine Antiques and Mieks Faberge Eggs instead say the Bolsheviks confiscated it, and no source dates the confiscation itself. Removed from the Anichkov Palace and inventoried at the Kremlin Armoury as Article 1548: a lady's gold watch, opened and set into a gold egg with one diamond, the latter on a gold tripod pedestal with three sapphires. The entry names no maker. - **1922** Ivan Gavrilovich Chinariov, Special Plenipotentiary `[documented]` (transfer) Handed over in February or March 1922 with the description one gold egg with watch, diamond push-piece and pedestal with three sapphires and rose-cut diamonds. In May 1924 the egg was among eighteen valued for sale, recorded in the Goznak archive. This is the last Russian record of the object. - **1922-1964** Unknown `[unknown]` (gap) No owner, dealer or transaction is documented for approximately forty-two years. Fourteen Imperial eggs were sold out of Russia between 1930 and 1933, chiefly through Armand Hammer and Emanuel Snowman of Wartski, and Kieran McCarthy has suggested Hammer as the likeliest route by which this egg reached the United States. That is an inference. No document has been produced linking Hammer, or any other named dealer, to this object. - **by 1964-1964** Mrs Rena Clark, New York `[disputed]` (consignment) The property in which lot 259 was offered is attributed to Mrs Rena Clark of New York. Sources vary between Clark and Clarke, and between a sale by her and a sale by her estate. How or when she acquired the egg is unrecorded, and there is no evidence she knew what it was. - **1964-early 2000s** Unidentified private buyer, described as a Southern lady `[unknown]` (purchase) Bought at Parke-Bernet, New York, on 7 March 1964 for 2,450 US dollars, as an unattributed gold watch in an egg-form case. The buyer has never been named. She is reported to have died in the early 2000s, after which her estate was dispersed and the egg reached an antiques stall in the American Midwest, still unidentified. - **c. 2004-2014** Unnamed scrap metal dealer, American Midwest `[disputed]` (purchase) Bought at a Midwestern antiques or bric-a-brac stall for its precious metal content, with the intention of reselling it to be melted. The price is variously given as 13,000, 13,302 and 14,000 US dollars, and the year as around 2004 or later. Prospective buyers assayed the metal, judged that he had overpaid, and declined to buy; he refused to sell at a loss and kept the egg at home for several years. In 2012 he searched online for the words egg and Vacheron Constantin, found the Daily Telegraph article of 13 August 2011 by Roya Nikkhah, and contacted Kieran McCarthy of Wartski, who travelled to the Midwest and confirmed the identification in person. - **2014** Wartski, London `[documented]` (purchase and resale) Wartski bought the egg from the finder and sold it on by private treaty to a collector. Neither price was disclosed. Wartski announced the discovery in March 2014 and exhibited the egg at 14 Grafton Street, London, from 14 to 17 April 2014, admission free, its first public showing in one hundred and twelve years. - **2014-present** Private collection, owner not named `[documented]` (acquisition) Acquired through Wartski in 2014 for an undisclosed sum. Reported figures of about 33 million US dollars and about 20 million pounds are press and market estimates of a private transaction, not confirmed prices. The owner lent the egg to the Victoria and Albert Museum for Faberge in London: Romance to Revolution, 20 November 2021 to 8 May 2022, where it was labelled as by Faberge, workmaster August Holmstrom. No later public display is recorded in the sources consulted. ## Auction results Hammer and buyer's premium are stated separately. Where a source conflates them this record says so. - **1964-03-07** Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, - Estimate: Not recorded in the sources consulted - Hammer: USD 2,450 - With premium: Not separately recorded - Lot 259, in the sale of the property of Mrs Rena Clark, held at Parke-Bernet on Madison Avenue over 6-7 March 1964; the egg sold on 7 March. Catalogued as Gold Watch in Egg-Form Case on Wrought Three-Tone Gold Stand, Set with Jewels, with the only maker named being Vacheron and Constantin. Neither Faberge nor the Russian imperial provenance was identified. The description was physically accurate down to the ring stretcher and the seventy-five point old-mine diamond, and it is that accuracy that made the object identifiable in 2011. Reported at the time as 875 pounds sterling, consistent with the fixed rate of about 2.80 dollars to the pound then in force. No source consulted distinguishes hammer from premium; the single figure is reported as the price paid. - **2014** Wartski, London - private treaty sale, not an auction, - Estimate: USD 33 m and GBP 20 m have both circulated as estimates - Hammer: Not applicable - With premium: Not applicable - Recorded here only to stop the widely repeated figure being read as an auction result. Wartski bought the egg from the finder and sold it on to a collector; neither transaction price was disclosed by any party. The figure of about 33 million US dollars derives from press reporting, principally CNN in 2015. The figure of about 20 million pounds originates in the Daily Telegraph headline of 13 August 2011, written before anyone knew the egg had survived, and recurs as a market estimate of the sale. There is no public record, no auction house, no hammer and no premium. This is a reported figure and should be cited as one. ## Exhibitions - Faberge in London: Romance to Revolution, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2021-2022 ## Open questions - Where was the egg between the Soviet transfer of 1922 and March 1964? No owner, dealer or transaction is documented for roughly forty-two years. - Did Armand Hammer export it? Kieran McCarthy's suggestion is an inference from Hammer's role in the 1930-33 sales and from where the egg surfaced. No document connecting Hammer to this object has been produced. - Who bought lot 259 in 1964? She is described only as a Southern lady who died in the early 2000s. Her name, and the route from her estate to a Midwestern antiques stall, are unrecorded. - Is Mrs Rena Clark correctly identified as the 1964 consignor, and was the property sold by her or by her estate? Sources give Clark, Mrs Rena Clark and Rena Clarke, and differ on whether she was living. - What did the scrap dealer pay, and when? The figure is given as 13,000, 13,302 and 14,000 US dollars, and the year as around 2004 or as late as 2011. - What did the 2014 buyer pay? The sale was private and the sum undisclosed. The widely repeated figure of about 33 million US dollars is press estimation, not a transaction record. - Is the egg case fourteen-karat gold, as the 1964 Parke-Bernet catalogue states, or eighteen-karat, as several later accounts have it? - Is the Vacheron and Constantin movement the original of 1887? Mieks Faberge Eggs raises the possibility of a later replacement and records it as unconfirmed. - On what evidence is August Holmstrom named as workmaster? The object appears to be unmarked, and the stylistic argument advanced at the time of identification cited Kollin's reeded gold and the three-colour swags of the Perchin transition rather than Holmstrom. - How many Imperial eggs are now missing? Wartski says seven, of which two are known to have survived the revolution. Other counts give six. The discrepancy turns on whether partially surviving eggs and surviving surprises are counted as located. ## Sources - [1] Wartski, London, 'The Third Imperial Easter Egg', the dealer's own account: dimensions, the Vacheron Constantin watch, the Imperial Cabinet payment of 2,160 roubles, the 1902 von Dervis exhibition, the 1917 and 1922 Soviet records, the 1964 Parke-Bernet sale and the 2014 exhibition. - [2] Mieks Faberge Eggs (Annemiek Wintraecken), '1887 Third Imperial Egg', the specialist research database: physical description, absence of maker's marks, the four-part Palmade identification, and the note that the watch movement may be a later replacement. - [3] Wikipedia, 'Third Imperial (Faberge egg)', consolidating the description, the Soviet inventory text, the 1964 catalogue extract, the 13,302 dollar purchase figure and the V&A loan. Tertiary. Flagged for replacement with the Wartski press documentation and Christel McCanless's Faberge Imperial Egg Chronology. - [4] The History Blog, 'Scrap metal dealer finds lost Faberge Imperial Egg', 20 March 2014. Carries the Parke-Bernet lot 259 catalogue entry in full and quotes Kieran McCarthy's account as given to the Daily Telegraph, including the Indiana Jones remark, the Dunkin' Donuts detail and the bar stool. - [5] The Magazine Antiques, 'Lost imperial Easter Egg found': the 7 March 1964 sale date, the 14,000 dollar purchase figure, the Wartski exhibition dates and the count of missing eggs at the time of discovery. - [6] Apollo Magazine, 'Easter Egg Hunt: The Third Imperial Faberge Easter Egg has resurfaced': the 20 million pound estimate, the exhibition, and Kieran McCarthy's Armand Hammer hypothesis and his view that at least two of the remaining missing eggs survive. - [7] Faberge Research Site (Christel Ludewig McCanless), 'Faberge Imperial Egg Chronology': the workmaster attribution to August Holmstrom, the 13,302 dollar purchase figure, and the record that market observers estimated the 2014 sale at around 20 million pounds. - [8] Faberge Research Site, 'Imperial Discoveries': Wintraecken's argument that a previously unrecognised 1887 egg must exist, the von Dervis photograph analysis, and the note recording the discovery of the March 1964 Parke-Bernet catalogue. - [9] Victoria and Albert Museum, 'Faberge in London: Romance to Revolution', 20 November 2021 to 8 May 2022. Institutional confirmation of the loan and of the object label naming August Holmstrom as workmaster. - [10] Wartski, 'Where is the missing Faberge Necessaire Egg?': the count of fifty Imperial eggs delivered and seven now missing, of which only two are known to have survived the revolution; and the Necessaire Egg's 19 June 1952 sale for 1,250 pounds. - [11] Wikipedia, 'Fauxberge': the coining of the term by Geza von Habsburg in Art and Auction, 1994; the Armand Hammer hallmarking-tools account after Edward Jay Epstein's Dossier; the Soviet-era forgers; the two-stamp rule; and the 2021 Hermitage exhibition dispute. Tertiary. Flagged for replacement with von Habsburg's article and Epstein directly. - [12] Faberge Research Site, 'Authentic': Peter L. Schaffer's rule that marks can be added and quality cannot, Geza von Habsburg on the American market, and the argument that published hallmarks cannot carry an authentication. - [13] Wikipedia, 'Peter Carl Faberge': dates, Huguenot descent, training, the 1872 succession, the 1882 Pan-Russian Exhibition and the Niva notice, the 1 May 1885 court appointment, the 1918 flight and the 1920 death. Tertiary. Flagged for replacement with a scholarly biography. - [14] Wikipedia, 'House of Faberge': the 1842 founding, the workmasters, the scale of the workforce and branches, the 1918 nationalisation and the later trademark history. Tertiary. Flagged for replacement with Lopato and von Habsburg, Faberge: Imperial Jeweller. - [15] Wikipedia, 'Faberge egg': the totals for eggs made and surviving, the two undelivered 1917 eggs, and the account of the Kremlin Armoury, the Stalin-era sales of 1930-33 and the fourteen eggs sold to Armand Hammer and Emanuel Snowman. Tertiary, and its survival count conflicts with Wartski's; flagged for replacement. - [16] Barnebys Magazine, 'Flea Market Faberge: The Third Imperial Egg': the 2004 purchase date and the 13,302 dollar figure, and the description of the 33 million dollar figure as an estimate of an undisclosed private sale. - [17] Faberge Discoveries, '1887 Egg With Watch on Stand (MF)': the 2,160 rouble Imperial Cabinet price, the seventy-five point diamond and cabochon sapphire description, the 7 March 1964 sale date and the 2007 identification of the object in the von Dervis photograph. - [18] Wikipedia, 'Rothschild egg': the Christie's London sale of 28 November 2007 at about 8.9 million pounds including commission, the three auction records it set, the purchase by Alexander Ivanov and the 2014 presentation to the Hermitage. Tertiary, used only as a public-record price comparator; flagged for replacement with the Christie's sale result. - [19] Faberge Museum, Baden-Baden, 'A fake Imperial Easter egg', published 4 May 2022. The museum's own statement disputing the identification of the 1887 Third Imperial Easter Egg shown at the Victoria and Albert Museum: that the stand is a modern work based on an Armoury photograph, that the garland work is cast and of a kind used since the 1970s, that the Vacheron Constantin watch postdates 1887, that the documents produced from the Goznak archive are a forgery and that no such documents exist there, and that the flea-market account was invented. Cited for the existence and content of the dispute, not for its truth; the museum is a private institution and an interested party in a long running disagreement with Wartski, and it names Wartski's managing director throughout. - [20] Faberge Research Site, Newsletter 2025 Spring, 'Third Imperial Faberge Easter Egg Spotted in a Cottage Palace Photograph', by Dmitry Krivoshey, Anna Palmade and Vincent Palmade. Reports the recognition of the 1887 Third Imperial Egg in a June 1900 archival photograph of the Empress Maria Feodorovna's boudoir in the Cottage Palace at Peterhof, located through a 1900 to 1902 photograph album of Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna held by the State Archive of the Russian Federation, and identified by matching the room against an Eduard Hau painting of about 1835. --- Images on this record are public domain or CC0 and are hosted by us. No image on this site is generated or simulated. If you quote this record, quote the provenance grades with it.