Fabergé egg facts for kids

Rose trellis egg

A Fabergé egg is a super fancy, jeweled egg made by the company of Peter Carl Fabergé between 1885 and 1917.

The most famous eggs were made for the Russian Tsars, Alexander III and Nicholas II. These special eggs were Easter gifts for their wives and mothers. They are known as the 'Imperial' Fabergé eggs. Fabergé's company made about 50 of these Imperial eggs, and 43 of them still exist today. Two more eggs were planned for Easter 1918, but they were never finished or delivered because of the Russian Revolution.

History of the Imperial Eggs
Other Fabergé Eggs
List of Fabergé Imperial Easter Eggs
Images for kids
See also

History of the Imperial Eggs

Faberge Cuckoo Egg

Fifteenth Anniversary egg

The very first Fabergé egg was created for Tsar Alexander III. He decided to give his wife, Empress Maria Fedorovna, an Easter egg in 1885. This was possibly to celebrate their 20th engagement anniversary.

Many people believe the Tsar was inspired by an egg owned by the Empress’s aunt, Princess Vilhelmine Marie of Denmark. This egg had fascinated Maria when she was a child. The first Fabergé egg is called the Hen Egg. It is made of gold with a white enameled "shell." This shell opens up to show a yellow-gold "yolk" inside. The yolk also opens to reveal a colorful gold hen. The hen used to hold a tiny diamond copy of the imperial crown and a small ruby pendant, but these two parts are now lost.

Empress Maria loved the gift so much! Because of this, Tsar Alexander named Fabergé a "goldsmith by special appointment to the Imperial Crown." He then ordered another egg for the next year. After that, Peter Carl Fabergé was given complete freedom to design future Imperial Easter eggs. His designs became much more detailed and amazing.

It is said that even the Tsar didn't know what the eggs would look like. The only rules were that each egg had to have a surprise inside and be totally unique. Once Fabergé approved a design, a team of skilled craftsmen would create the egg. Some of these craftsmen included Michael Perkhin, Henrik Wigström, and Erik August Kollin.

After Tsar Alexander III passed away in 1894, his son, Nicholas II, continued the tradition. He gave a Fabergé egg to both his wife, Alexandra Fedorovna, and his mother, the Dowager Empress Maria Fedorovna. Records show that out of the 50 Imperial Easter eggs, 20 were given to his wife and 30 to his mother. Eggs were made every year, except in 1904 and 1905, during the Russo-Japanese War.

Other Fabergé Eggs

The Imperial eggs became very famous. Because of this, Fabergé was asked to make similar eggs for a few private customers. These included important families like the Rothschild family and the Yusupovs. Fabergé was also asked to make twelve eggs for a rich industrialist named Alexander Kelch. However, it seems only seven of these were completed.

After the Russian Revolution in 1918, the Fabergé workshop in St. Petersburg was taken over by the government. The Fabergé family then left Russia. Since then, the Fabergé name has been sold many times. Different companies have sold egg-themed items using the Fabergé brand. For example, the Victor Mayer jewelry company made special limited edition Fabergé eggs from 1998 to 2009. Today, the Fabergé trademark is owned by Fabergé Limited, which creates jewelry with egg designs.

In 2015, the current owners of the Fabergé brand announced a new "Fabergé" egg. They called it an "Imperial Class" egg, saying it was the first of its kind in 100 years. This egg, called the Fabergé Pearl egg, was planned to be sold in Qatar.

List of Fabergé Imperial Easter Eggs

Below is a list of the amazing eggs made for the Russian Imperial family.

Date	Egg	Description	Owner
1885	Hen egg	Also known as the Jewelled Hen Egg, it was the first of 54 jeweled eggs made for the Russian Imperial family. The tsarina and the tsar loved the egg so much that Alexander III ordered a new egg from Fabergé every Easter.	Viktor Vekselberg
1886	Hen egg with sapphire pendant	Also known as the Egg with hen in basket, it was made in 1886 for Alexander III, who gave it to his wife, Empress Maria Feodorovna.	LOST
1887	Third Imperial egg	A jeweled yellow gold egg with a Vacheron & Constantin watch inside. It sits on its original stand. In 2014, it was bought by a private collector.	Private Collection
1888	Cherub with chariot egg	Also known as the Angel with egg in chariot, made and delivered in 1888 to Alexander III. This is one of the lost Imperial eggs, so not many details are known about it.	LOST
1889	Nécessaire egg	Made and given to Alexander III, who presented it to his wife, Maria Feodorovna, on Easter 1889.	LOST
1890	Danish palaces egg	Made and given to Alexander III, who presented it to his wife, Maria Feodorovna, on Easter 1890.	Matilda Geddings Gray Foundation.
1891	Memory of Azov egg		Kremlin Armoury, Moscow, Russia
1892	Diamond trellis egg		Private collection
1893	Caucasus egg		Matilda Geddings Gray Foundation.
1894	Renaissance egg		Viktor Vekselberg
1895	Rosebud egg		Viktor Vekselberg
1895	Blue serpent clock egg	Before March 2014, this egg was mistakenly thought to be the third Imperial egg.	Albert II of Monaco collection, Monte-Carlo, Monaco
1896	Rock crystal egg	Also known as the revolving miniatures egg.	Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
1896	Twelve monograms	Also known as the Alexander III portraits egg. The surprise inside is missing.	Hillwood Museum, Washington D.C.
1897	Imperial Coronation egg		Viktor Vekselberg
1897	Mauve	Only the surprise from inside this egg has survived.	LOST Viktor Vekselberg
1898	Lilies of the Valley egg	This egg is one of two made in the Art Nouveau style. It was given to Tsar Nicholas II on April 5 as a gift for his wife, Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna.	Viktor Vekselberg
1898	Pelican egg		Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia, USA
1899	Bouquet of lilies clock egg		Kremlin Armoury, Moscow
1899	Pansy egg		Private Collection
1900	Trans-Siberian Railway egg		Kremlin Armoury, Moscow
1900	Cockerel egg		Viktor Vekselberg
1901	Basket of wild flowers			Royal Collection, London, United Kingdom
1901	Gatchina Palace egg		Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland
1902	Clover leaf egg		Kremlin Armoury, Moscow
1902	Empire nephrite egg		LOST
1903	Peter the Great egg		Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia, USA
1903	Royal Danish egg		LOST
1904	No eggs made
1905	No eggs made
1906	Moscow Kremlin egg		Kremlin Armoury, Moscow
1906	Swan egg		Edouard and Maurice Sandoz Foundation, Switzerland
1907	Rose trellis egg		Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
1907	Love trophies egg or 'Cradle with garlands' egg		Private Collection
1908	Alexander Palace egg		Kremlin Armoury, Moscow
1908	Peacock egg)		Edouard and Maurice Sandoz Foundation, Switzerland
1909	Standart yacht egg		Kremlin Armoury, Moscow
1909	Alexander III commemorative egg		LOST
1910	Colonnade egg		Royal Collection, London
1910	Alexander III equestrian egg)		Kremlin Armoury, Moscow
1911	Fifteenth anniversary egg		Viktor Vekselberg
1911	Bay tree egg	Also known as the Orange tree egg.	Viktor Vekselberg
1912	Tsarevich egg		Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia
1912	Napoleonic egg		Matilda Geddings Gray Foundation. Displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
1913	Romanov tercentenary egg		Kremlin Armoury, Moscow
1913	Winter egg		The State of Qatar
1914	Mosaic egg		Royal Collection, London
1914	Grisaille egg or Catherine the Great egg	This egg was made by Henrik Wigström, Fabergé's last main craftsman. Nicholas II gave it to his mother, Maria Fedrovna. Its surprise (now lost) was "a mechanical sedan chair, carried by two blackamoors, with Catherine the Great seated inside."	Hillwood Museum, Washington, D.C., USA
1915	Red Cross with triptych egg		Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
1915	Red Cross with imperial portraits		Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia
1916	Steel military egg		Kremlin Armoury, Moscow
1916	Order of St. George egg	Made during World War I, this egg honored the Order of St. George award given to Emperor Nicholas and his son, Grand Duke Alexei Nikolaievich. This egg and the previous one had simple designs because of the war. The Order of St. George egg left Bolshevik Russia with its original owner, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna.	Viktor Vekselberg
1917	Karelian birch egg	Made in 1917, this egg was supposed to be given to the Tsar's mother, Empress Maria Feodorovna, that Easter. But the February Revolution happened, and Nicholas II had to give up his throne on March 15. Fabergé sent the Tsar an invoice for the egg, addressing him as "Mr. Romanov, Nikolai Aleksandrovich." Nicholas paid for it. The egg was sent to Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich's palace to be given to the empress, but the duke left before it arrived. The egg stayed in the palace until it was taken during the October Revolution.	Alexander Ivanov. Displayed at Ivanov's Fabergé Museum in Baden-Baden, Germany.
1917	Constellation egg	Because of the Russian Revolution, this egg was never finished or given to Tsar Nicholas's wife, Tsaritsa Alexandra Feodorovna. Two eggs claim to be the Constellation egg: one at Fersman Mineralogical Museum in Moscow and another owned by Alexander Ivanov at his Fabergé Museum in Baden-Baden, Germany.	Fersman Mineralogical Museum, Moscow or the Fabergé Museum in Baden-Baden.