The Hunt For The Million dollar Faberge Eggs

the hunt for the million-dollar Faberge eggs in 1827 an ambitious 24 year old Russian took over his father's jewelry business determined to make it the talk of Imperial st. Petersburg 13 years later having gained a reputation for his craftsmanship and creativity Peter Carl Faberge received the ultimate seal of approval a commission from Czar Alexander the third for a bejeweled Easter egg a gift for his young bride Maria Fyodorovna the white enamel hen egg contained a gold yolk gold hen tiny replica of the imperial crown and Ruby pendant it was a hit and Faberge went on to create a new egg for these are every Easter as well as countless other pieces each egg took around a year to complete contained a surprise and was designed in secret with not even the Tsar privy to its design until it was hand-delivered by Faberge when Alexander died his son tsar nicholas ii continued the tradition commissioning two eggs each easter one for his mother and one for his own czarina Alexandra Feodorovna bringing the total to fifty although there are two more eggs believed to be unfinished commissioned by the Tsar the fiftieth add was the last Faberge would ever present in October 1917 the Bolsheviks seized power and the Tsar and his family fled to a Katerine burg where they were executed the following July the eggs were confiscated there were ten held at the Kremlin Armory another ten are thought to have been stolen in 1918 and many more were sold by the Bolsheviks and scattered across the West today seven Imperial eggs are still missing along with many of their surprises but an impassioned group of experts and enthusiasts from Russia the UK US Switzerland and Finland are on their trail gaze upon Habsburg one of the world's leading Faberge experts has been on the egg hunt for more than 40 years collectors fully depend on US researchers and auction houses to track them down I personally rarely miss an opportunity of visiting a garage sale or even the smallest local auction viewing in the hope of finding Faberge x' 1888 cherub and chariot egg the total unexpected discovery of one of the missing eggs 1887 third and a leg in a Midwestern antique market last year gives me hope these stories of these eggs provide a glimpse of the hunger and tenacity of those on the hunt Vincent pal meds obsession with Faberge began at a young age it started in 1979 I was 14 and visited Moscow and st. Petersburg on a school trip I felt immediately in love with the culture and when I saw the fabric eggs in the Kremlin Museum they made a strong impression he explains by 2005 how mad now an economist of the World Bank who refers to himself as a lucky amateur had started creating an archive now containing more than 1000 auction catalogues and around 200 books housed in a two-story library especially built in his home he and his Russian wife Anna another enthusiast spend around 10 hours a week researching which paid off in 2011 when they spotted a detailed image and description of the 1887 AG the pair were due to attend a Faberge symposium in Richmond Virginia in the next day where their discovery sparked a frantic search by dealers Kieran McCarthy a Faberge expert at London jeweller warts key shared the image and a telegraph article in the hope of finding its owner and last year an American scrap metal trader about to mount the egg down for gold saw the article online the trainer came to Kieran in London and showed him pictures of the egg says pal man Kieran was on a plane a second later going back to the Midwest with the owner to check it the egg was eventually acquired for a private collector for a multi-million dollar sum but the most groundbreaking piece of research by pal Matt and his wife took place in 2007 leaving through one of their books the pair came across pictures of the first Faberge exhibition in Russia in 1902 in the picture was a vitrine a type of glass display case which according to legend contained some of the missing eggs that led us to find a high-resolution picture of that vitrine said nomads and using a magnifying glass we were able to find the 1888 cherub and chariot egg it was hidden behind another egg so we could only see the wheel but the outline of the egg was reflected in the glass of the vitrine the egg is yet to actually be found but thanks to pal mad there are now only three missing Faberge Imperial eggs left for which there are no pictures or designs the research really is the most important thing explains Alice Elek former head of the Russian departments at Christie's and Sotheby's then people know what they're looking for so if they do happen to come across it they know what it is I wish I could tell you some exciting story about putting on my Indiana Jones hat but nobody can go off on a Faberge Island it's really a question of hazard and luck and chance an opportunity Alice's unlucky day came in 2004 when she was invited to the office of an Australian English dealer he asked me would you like to sell an Imperial egg that's been missing and opened the door I saw an image of the winter egg the Czar's most expensive Commission created with diamonds and platinum to look like ice which have been missing since 1975 it transpired that he was the agent for Brian led Brooks family an eccentric character who kept the egg and hundreds of other antiques and jewelry in his bedroom there were things under his bed and cupboards it was overflowing but he never let anyone in his room so nobody knew that he had this egg until he died despite sharing research there's competition between the experts as director Patrick mark found when researching his new film Faberge a life of its own I met Tatiana Faberge a great-granddaughter of Karl a redoubtable Russian lady who's extremely knowledgeable about Faberge and she said you must be careful because so many people get involved in this Faberge business and eventually they end up thinking that they are Carl Faberge I do understand what she meant because you come across some people who are married proprietorial about their knowledge and these little scraps of information there are a lot of old fashioned looks that go on between people I've no doubt so many things have happened in this Faberge world over the years scandal fake eggs all sorts of skullduggery von Habsburg recalls in one American collector Malcolm Forbes who took his competition to an international level in 1965 he acquired his first Faberge Easter egg and his ensuing rapidly growing appetite for Imperial eggs was dictated by his urge to outclass his Soviet counterparts wherever possible the fact that the Kremlin armory museum owned ten Imperial eggs galvanized Forbes in his search to go on better and by his own count he had obtained parity with Moscow by 1985 that year Faberge is cuckoo not in pristine shape and arguably not aesthetically the most desirable of the impure legs appeared at a Sotheby's auction that year and when the hammer came down at 1.6 million in forbes favor the auctioneer was prompted to say the score now stands at kremlin 10 forbes 11 with today's enthusiasts just as passionate it seems only a matter of time before another discoveries made in fact one may be just around the corner says pal mad there's a big discussion going on about the 1902 egg and whether it's been found or not but i cannot say anymore it seems that the search will go on until all the eggs have finally been tracked down it's like a gigantic puzzle emerging in front of your eyes which is built one piece at a time yet and that combination of unmatched craftsmanship creativity diversity romance and a foregone era which will never come back it's addictive 1895 rosebud egg the first egg given - Nicholas's news arena contains a yellow enameled rosebud a sign in her native germany of purity it was also once owned by an English couple who reportedly damaged the egg central panel by hurling it across the room during an argument 1901 flower basket egg this egg was once thought to be by Boucheron rather than Faberge extensive research by gaze of von Habsburg and a photograph confirmed it is Faberge 'z 1914 Imperial coronation egg this egg is a miniature replica of the coach in which Alexandra Feodorovna rode into Moscow in the morning of the coronation painstakingly faithful to the original it took Faberge s craftsman George Stein 15 months to create 1907 the love trophy egg controversy surrounded this egg for 50 years with experts struggling to decide when it was given to whom what the surprise was and how it came out of Russia we now know that it was given in 1917 to the Dowager Maria Feodorovna and that the surprise was a miniature of all the Imperial children its route out of Russia remains a mystery [Music]

Channel: Amazing facts

Views: 24,539

Rating: 4.8571429 out of 5

Keywords: Amazing, facts, russia, egg, faberge, eastern europe, fabergé egg (art series), ap archive, art, lifestyle, faberge egg, gold, history, geographic, breaking news, stolen, border, search, odd news, weird news, funny stories, viral video, top stories, Eastern Europe, top 10, faberge eggs, faberge eggs documentary, did you know, trending stories, viral stories, trending, buzz, top 10 things, most expensive, top stories today, history documentary, treasure, trending stories on youtube

Id: 8SMmNSQw__g

Length: 8min 33sec (513 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 23 2020