Midwestern Shopper Almost Melts Down The Third Imperial Fabergé Egg
WartskiThe long-lost Third Imperial Fabergé Egg was discovered at a Midwest flea market.
In 2004, a scrap metal dealer was perusing a flea market stall when he discovered a three-inch-tall golden egg with a clock concealed inside. After identifying it as real gold, the man was curious about how much he could sell it for if he melted it down. The anonymous buyer purchased the egg for a whopping $13,000 and brought it home.
After several unsuccessful attempts to sell the egg, the man stored it in the back of a kitchen cupboard for eight years.
Then, in 2012, the man grew increasingly frustrated with the lack of return on his hefty investment. Out of desperation, he Googled the name of the inscription on the clock, “Vacheron Constantin,” followed by the word “egg,” and made a shocking discovery.
The search brought up an article about the Imperial Easter Eggs. Between 1885 and 1916, 50 elaborate, bejeweled Easter eggs were created for the Russian royal family by Peter Carl Fabergé. As the man continued his investigation, he found a photo from 1902 of several of the eggs on display — and one of them looked almost identical to the golden egg he’d purchased at the flea market.
Public DomainThe Third Imperial Fabergé Egg on display in Saint Petersburg in 1902.
He flew to London to visit Fabergé expert Kieran McCarthy. As McCarthy told CNN in 2015, “A gentleman had walked in wearing jeans, a plaid shirt, and trainers… He handed me a portfolio of photographs, and there was the egg, the Holy Grail of art and antiques.”
It turned out that the flea market egg was the missing Third Imperial Easter Egg, which was created for Czar Alexander III’s wife in 1887. It was also worth an estimated $33 million.
The Fabergé egg was thought to have been lost after the Soviets sold it alongside other cultural treasures in 1922 to finance the industrialization of the U.S.S.R. Nobody is sure how the egg ended up in the United States, nevertheless at a flea market. Now, it’s in the hands of a private collector, who paid an undisclosed sum for it in 2014.
Six of the Fabergé eggs are still missing — so the next time you’re at a flea market, keep your eyes peeled.
