The Imperial Fabergé ‘Winter Egg’ achieved a record-breaking £22.9 million at a Christie’s auction in London this week, setting a new global benchmark for Fabergé works sold at auction. The piece, created in 1913 for Tsar Nicholas II as an Easter gift for his mother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, is widely regarded as one of the most technically complex objects produced in the Imperial workshops.
The egg is carved from rock crystal and decorated with platinum frost motifs set with approximately 4,500 diamonds, reflecting the workshop’s mastery of precision gemstone setting. The internal “surprise” — a miniature platinum basket holding quartz flowers with demantoid garnet leaves — remains intact, a rarity given the fragility of the original Imperial Easter eggs.
Christie’s confirmed that the buyer has chosen to remain anonymous. The auction result more than doubles the previous record for a Fabergé egg, underscoring strong collector demand for rare historical objets d’art with high gemstone value and imperial provenance.
First sold by Soviet authorities in the 1920s, the Winter Egg passed through several international collections and was considered missing for decades before resurfacing in the 1990s. Its reappearance and subsequent record sale highlight renewed global interest in imperial-era craftsmanship, particularly pieces featuring complex gemstone engineering.
Industry observers noted that the sale also reflects a wider trend of rising valuations for museum-grade historical jewellery objects, positioning Fabergé’s Imperial creations as significant investment assets within the global luxury collectibles market.
