A crystal Fabergé egg is expected to sell for more than $40 million
The Winter Egg heads to auction on December 2. (AP: Kirsty Wigglesworth)
In short:
A Fabergé Imperial Winter Egg, commissioned by Tsar Nicholas II as an Easter gift to his mother, is heading to auction with a price estimate of more than $40 million.
Sitting on a crystal base designed to resemble melting ice, the egg was crafted to open up and reveal a surprise — an intricately crafted bouquet of flowers.
What's next?
The piece is due to be auctioned in London next week.
A rare crystal and diamond Fabergé egg is going up for auction, valued at more than 20 million pounds ($40.5 million).
Christie's auction house says the Winter Egg is just one of seven of the opulent ovoids remaining in private hands.
It will be offered for sale at Christie's London headquarters on Tuesday, local time.
The 10-centimetre-tall egg is made from finely carved rock crystal, covered in a delicate snowflake motif wrought in platinum and 4,500 tiny diamonds. It opens to reveal a removable tiny basket of bejewelled quartz flowers symbolising spring.
Margo Oganesian, the head of Christie's Russian art department, likened it to a luxurious Kinder Surprise chocolate.
The Winter Egg is a superb example of craft and design, "the 'Mona Lisa' for decorative arts,"Ms Oganesian said.
Christie's previously sold the Winter Egg in Geneva in 1994 and in New York in 2002. Both times it set a world record price for a Fabergé item sold at auction.
One of just two created by female designer Alma Pihl, the egg was commissioned by Tsar Nicholas II for his mother Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna as an Easter present in 1913. Ms Pihl's other egg is owned by Britain's royal family.
The Winter Egg was commissioned by Tsar Nicholas II as an Easter gift to his mother. (AP: Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Peter Carl Fabergé and his company created more than 50 of the eggs for Russia's imperial family between 1885 and 1917, each elaborately unique and containing a hidden surprise.
Tsar Alexander III started the tradition by presenting an egg to his wife each Easter. His successor, Nicholas II, extended the gift to his wife and mother.
The Romanov royal family ruled Russia for 300 years before it was ousted by the 1917 revolution. Nicholas and his family were executed in 1918.
There are 43 surviving imperial Fabergé eggs, most in museums.
AP/Reuters