My Dragon's Lair Sharing is the reason for my being...: Rothschild Faberge Egg Auctioned

LONDON (AFP) - A newly discovered Faberge egg made for a top banking dynasty is expected to fetch up to nine million pounds (13 million euros, 18 million dollars) when it is sold in London next month, auction house Christie's said Thursday.
The egg was made for the Rothschild family in 1902 by Peter Carl Faberge and contains a diamond-encrusted cockerel which pops out every hour to flap its wings and nod its head while opening and shutting its beak and crowing.
One of only three known examples featuring a clock and a mechanical figure, it is unusually large and is enamelled in pink with gold detailing. The Rothschild Faberge Egg

"The discovery of this masterpiece is the most exciting of my 40-year career," said Anthony Philips, Christie's international director of silver and Russian works of art.
"We expect this remarkable object to be of profound interest to private collectors and institutions from around the world."
Faberge, a Russian jeweller whose name is synonymous with extravagant craftsmanship, made 50 eggs for the Russian royal family but is only known to have created 12 eggs to similar standards for private clients.
The Rothschild egg will be auctioned on November 28 as part of a week of Russian art sales at Christie's which is expected to attract a string of big bucks bids from wealthy Russian business people in London.
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USAToday (has a large clear photo)
... Craftsmen Peter Carl Faberge created more than 50 of the eggs for Russia's imperial family, though not all survive. Czar Alexander III commissioned the first as an anniversary present for his wife, Empress Maria Fedorovna, on Easter Day 1885. The Empress was so enamored of the enameled egg, with a golden yoke, golden hen, miniature diamond crown and ruby egg inside, that the czar ordered that a unique egg be made for her every Easter Day after.
After the Czar died unexpectedly in 1894, his son Nicholas continued the tradition until the Russian Revolution in 1917. Nicholas and his family were executed on July 17, 1918.
After the revolution, the communist government sold off many of Faberge's creations, which found their way into Western collections.
The Rothschild egg was presented as an engagement gift to Edouard de Rothschild and Germaine Halphen, who married in 1905, by Edouard's sister Beatrice Ephrussi.

Labels: art, Auction, Egg, Faberge, history, Rothschild