LONDON, December 2. /TASS/. Faberge's "Winter Egg" from the collection of Czar Nicholas II of Russia was auctioned in London for for 19.5 million pounds (25.7 million dollars), setting a record high for this type of jewelry, auctioneer Yu-Ge Wang announced.
"Nineteen million five hundred thousand pounds. Sold!" she said. Christie's added that the buyer will pay 22.9 million pounds (30.2 million dollars), including commission. Bidding started at 17 million pounds (22.4 million dollars).
Created for the Russian imperial family for Easter 1913, the piece was designed by Alma Pihl, a young jeweler and the daughter of one of Carl Faberge’s leading craftsmen. The Winter Egg's body is made of rock crystal and is decorated with carvings that imitate frost crystals. Adorned with more than 4,000 diamonds, the piece stands on a crystal base that looks like melting ice. Inside the egg is a basket containing a bouquet of snowdrops made of quartz and jadeite. Nicholas II gave the egg as a present to his mother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna.
After the October Revolution, a London dealer purchased the egg in the 1920s for 450 pounds, and it was resold several times. The Winter Egg was considered lost for a long time until it "surfaced" at a Christie's auction in Geneva in 1994. There, it sold for 5.587 million dollars. In 2002, it sold for a world record 9.58 million dollars at an auction in New York. Forbes previously reported that this time the egg was put up for auction by the heirs of Qatari Sheikh Saud bin Mohammed Al Thani, who bought it in 2002.
