Post by hi224 on Jun 4, 2021 6:40:42 GMT
missing Faberge Eggs. The wiki article for it sucks, but to very briefly sum it up -
The house of Faberge was commissioned from 1885 - 1917ish to make Easter eggs for the Russian Imperial family.
In the Russian revolution, the palaces were raided and all the treasure was brought to the Kremlin.
Currently we have 43 Imperial eggs in various museums, and private collections, but 7 are missing, with no real information on where they are.
There’s historical records of both Lenin and Stalin selling some of the treasure in the Kremlin to acquire foreign currency, but nothing specific on what was sold.
There’s evidence of two of the eggs turning up at various auctions, but the photos are so grainy that it’s not 100% clear they’re even one of the Imperial eggs.
Interestingly enough one that was also missing turned up a few years ago. This guy in Midwest USA somewhere (he remained anonymous) who was a scrap dealer was going to sell it to a dealer who wanted to melt it down, and the guy saw the maker’s engraving on the watch inside the egg, and typed ‘Vacheron Constantin egg’ into google and lo and behold, he discovers he has a 100+ year old egg sitting on his kitchen counter.
My personal theory on the eggs is that they were sold during the World War(s) but I have no idea where they might be now. I suspect they may have been destroyed, but it would be amazing for them to turn up. It isn’t unheard of for 100+ year old art to randomly turn up. (I believe an unknown Vermeer painting emerged a little while ago)
There’s a really interesting show called Raiders of The Lost Art, and I believe it’s the second episode that’s about Faberge.
The house of Faberge was commissioned from 1885 - 1917ish to make Easter eggs for the Russian Imperial family.
In the Russian revolution, the palaces were raided and all the treasure was brought to the Kremlin.
Currently we have 43 Imperial eggs in various museums, and private collections, but 7 are missing, with no real information on where they are.
There’s historical records of both Lenin and Stalin selling some of the treasure in the Kremlin to acquire foreign currency, but nothing specific on what was sold.
There’s evidence of two of the eggs turning up at various auctions, but the photos are so grainy that it’s not 100% clear they’re even one of the Imperial eggs.
Interestingly enough one that was also missing turned up a few years ago. This guy in Midwest USA somewhere (he remained anonymous) who was a scrap dealer was going to sell it to a dealer who wanted to melt it down, and the guy saw the maker’s engraving on the watch inside the egg, and typed ‘Vacheron Constantin egg’ into google and lo and behold, he discovers he has a 100+ year old egg sitting on his kitchen counter.
My personal theory on the eggs is that they were sold during the World War(s) but I have no idea where they might be now. I suspect they may have been destroyed, but it would be amazing for them to turn up. It isn’t unheard of for 100+ year old art to randomly turn up. (I believe an unknown Vermeer painting emerged a little while ago)
There’s a really interesting show called Raiders of The Lost Art, and I believe it’s the second episode that’s about Faberge.
