Can you name the most expensive bauble in the world?
If you said a Fabergé Easter Egg, you’re only half-way there. Which particular egg is the most expensive, ever?
Did you know, nearly every egg ornament made by Peter Carl Fabergé has a name, and has a recorded history? Experts believe there may be as many as 69 eggs in total. Most of them — fifty of them, to be exact–were made for the Russian Imperial Family. It is these eggs, the “Imperial Eggs”, that are the most famous and what everyone tends to think of when Fabergé eggs are mentioned. They’re certainly the most elaborate of the eggs.
Fabergé also made eggs for wealthy private citizens, but not nearly as many.
Of the fifty Imperial eggs, the location of only 43 of them is known. Fabergé made eggs right up until 1917, when the Russian Revolution took place. During that time, the Imperial family were arrested and executed, the palaces were looted and seven of the Imperial eggs disappeared. (Oooh, that sounds like a story in the making, right there!)
In 1913, Fabergé made an egg he called Winter. It was a gift from Tzar Nicholas II to his wife, Tsarina Maria Feodorovna. At the time, it was the most expensive egg ever made. It cost 24,700 rubles. Adjusting for inflation, in current US dollars, that would be around $10,800! But that was just the cost to have it made. The fame of the Fabergé eggs have added to their value every year since.
Winter egg is still not the most expensive egg out there, despite being sold at auction in 2002 for $9.6 million!
The eggs are very beautiful, but not something the average citizen can afford. There’s a hack though: Make your own!
The end result, depending on time and materials and your creativity, can be stunning! There is a how-to video on YouTube [link] that shows you how to make simple and very pretty Fabergé-style eggs. If you click through to that one, you’ll find dozens more instructional videos in the sidebar, too! If you prefer written instructions, there is a good one here [link].
Also, just because my curiousity bump was itching, I did a bit of research to see if there are any Easter romances out there, and there are!
The one that caught my eye the most was a science fiction romance by S.E. Smith — A Dragonling’s Easter. It’s a shifter/SF/Romance and book 1 of the series.
If you’d like something a little bit different, try the historical novel The Angel’s Lamp by Ashby Jones. It’s not specifically a romance, but the description makes it sound like there’s a pretty decent romance in there, anyway. It’s about the Irish Easter uprising — which promises some high-tension story telling.
Also on the bit-different side: An inspirational romance with an Easter theme. Waiting for Lily Bloom by Jericha Kingston. It’s set in 1935 Oklahoma.
A good romantic comedy with an Easter theme is The Bunny is Coming by Tara Sivec.
And for the Shifter lovers, there is The Easter Bunny’s Bear by Zoe Chant.
Finally, a contemporary romance (my fingers twitch whenever I type out “contemporary romance” because I always feel like I have to add “straight” …as in “normal” because most of the romances mentioned on my site are anything but!). For the contemporary romance lovers: Reconciled for Easter by Noelle Adams.
Happy reading!
_______
And the most expensive Fabergé Easter Egg in the world?
Fabergé made one of his eggs for the Rothschild family in 1902. The Rothschild egg remained in the family for over a century. In 2007, Christies in London sold the egg for $11.14 million USD. It is the most expensive Fabergé egg in the world, and it was given back to Russia in 2014.
I hope you had a fabulous Easter break!
Cheers,
.
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