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Fabergé Eggs: A Gilded Easter Legacy

There are Easter eggs—and then there are Fabergé Eggs.
April 13, 2025

Easter may conjure up images of pastel-dyed eggs and chocolate bunnies, but in the world of high jewelry, the holiday finds a more extravagant expression in the form of the legendary Fabergé Eggs—bejeweled masterpieces that have long captivated collectors and connoisseurs alike.

While Easter eggs have been both a Christian and pagan tradition for centuries, the story of the Fabergé Egg began in 1885—not in a jewelry atelier, but rather in the court of the Russian Empire. Peter Carl Fabergé, a young jeweler with a growing reputation for exquisite craftsmanship, was commissioned by Tsar Alexander III to create an Easter gift for his wife, Empress Maria Feodorovna.

Fabergé Hen Egg, 1885. Image courtesy of The FORBES Collection, New York, all rights reserved.

What he delivered was the first Imperial Fabergé Egg—an unassuming, white enameled shell that opened to reveal a golden yolk, which in turn encased a golden hen, and inside that, a miniature diamond crown and ruby pendant. A marvel of creativity and mechanical ingenuity, it set the standard for what would become a cherished imperial tradition. Every year thereafter, until the fall of the Romanovs in 1917, a new and increasingly elaborate egg was created for the royal family.

Over three decades, the House of Fabergé created 50 Imperial Eggs, each unique, each hiding a surprise: a tiny train, a working clock, a miniature portrait gallery. These weren’t merely ornamental—they were symbolic, intimate gifts that often commemorated milestones or historical events. The 1913 Winter Egg, encrusted with rock crystal and platinum, is considered one of the most extravagant, its frosted shell concealing a platinum flower basket set with over a thousand diamonds. (It later sold at auction in 2002 to the Emir of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, for over $9 million.)

Fabergé Basket of Wild Flowers Egg, 1901. The Royal Collection

But Fabergé’s gilded age ended abruptly with the Bolshevik Revolution. The Russian imperial family was executed, the House of Fabergé was nationalized, and Peter Carl fled the country, never to return. For decades, the legacy of the Fabergé name drifted—passed through different owners, diluted by licensing deals that ranged from perfumes to even Aqua Net, when the license was owned by Unilever in the ’90s. For a time, it seemed that the artistry behind the Fabergé name would remain a relic of a lost empire.

That changed in the early 2000s, when Fabergé’s brand rights were reacquired by Fabergé Limited, a company determined to restore the house’s original identity as a maker of extraordinary jewelry and objets d’art. In 2009, Fabergé, now a wholly owned subsidiary of Gemfields Ltd., a world-leading supplier of responsibly sourced colored gemstones, relaunched with a new generation of egg-inspired designs—works that nodded to their imperial forbears while embracing a more contemporary design philosophy.

The Fabergé 18k Yellow Gold Red Guilloché Enamel Egg Objet with Wild Rose Surprise has a red guilloché enamel “shell” and an 18k yellow gold wild rose “surprise” on an 18k yellow gold black rhodium plated guilloché base. 65mm high, its stand is a black Jadeite Nephrite and includes a responsibly sourced Gemfields Mozambican cabochon ruby button. Each petal is hand-painted with light pink guilloché enamel, while its 18k yellow gold thorny branches are encrusted with white diamonds. A series of diamonds depict the pollen. Php 4,341,480.00. Courtesy of Fabergé

Today, Fabergé’s modern egg pendants and objets are no less precious, though more accessible than their Tsarist counterparts. The house’s Heritage Collection makes these precious treasures wearable, featuring miniature eggs crafted in guilloché enamel and set with diamonds or colored gemstones—still hiding surprises inside, though now on a scale that fits the neck rather than a palatial ballroom.

The Heritage Yellow Gold Diamond & Blue Guilloché Enamel Water Lily Surprise Locket features blue guilloché enamel and round white diamonds, set in 18k yellow gold. The locket opens to reveal an 18k yellow gold green guilloché enamel water lily pad with a pink carved Mother of Pearl flower, set with a round diamond. Php 968,760.00. Courtesy of Fabergé

The house’s one-of-a-kind Egg Objets are more in line with its history, featuring a no-holds-barred approach to design and materials. The Fabergé x Game of Thrones High Jewelry Egg, unveiled in 2021, marked an ambitious new chapter—melding fantasy and regal tradition in a collector’s piece that took over 2,500 hours to complete.

A collection of one-of-a-kind eggs includes the Game of Thrones Egg, co-designed by Fabergé’s designer, Liisa Tallgren, and Michele Clapton, the Emmy® and BAFTA® winning costume designer from HBO®’s Game of Thrones. Courtesy of Fabergé

These intricate creations stand as enduring symbols of artistry, devotion, and the beauty of tradition. For some, they are marvels of engineering; for others, heirlooms of a vanished dynasty; and for a new generation of collectors, they represent a return to craftsmanship in a world of fast .

In a time when “” is ascendant and the appetite for legacy and heritage is stronger than ever, the Fabergé Egg continues to embody a rare and unapologetic opulence—and though a lucky few of us may find one in our Easter baskets, the fantasy remains part of the charm.

Fabergé’s Egg Objets can be found in their website.

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