A diamond-encrusted crystal egg by Peter Carl Fabergé, once owned by the Russian imperial family, has sold at auction in London for a record 22.9 million pounds (30.2 million dollars).
According to Christie’s, the Winter Egg, considered one of the legendary jeweler’s most beautiful works, was acquired on December 2. The buyer’s name has not been disclosed.
The egg is adorned with 4500 diamonds. Tsar Nicholas II commissioned it in 1913 as a gift for his mother. The previous record price for a Fabergé egg was set in 2007, when it sold at auction for 8.9 million pounds.
Fabergé created 50 eggs for the Russian imperial Romanov family. The Winter Egg is one of seven in private hands. The others are either lost or are held by various institutions and museums.
