1903 The Royal Danish Egg (Missing)

Maria Feodorovna

Purchase price 7,535 rubles

The Danish Jubilee Egg of 1903 is one of the six missing Faberge Imperial Easter eggs. What little is known about this piece comes from the invoice and a description in an inventory of valuables, belonging to the Dowager Empress Maria Fedorovna and kept at Gatchina Palace: “Egg with blue and white enamel in gold mount on columns with lions, and an elephant above; in the middle a screen with a portrait of the Danish King and Queen, applied with precious stones.”

Additionally, a photograph from the archive of Tatyana Faberge shows the initial M on an enameled field placed at the center of the Egg and topped with a crown. A miniature figure of an elephant — symbol of the highest order of the Danish Kingdom — stands at the top of the Egg, covered with gold netting. The Egg is supported by three heraldic lions, planted on a pedestal that is two-thirds the size of the Egg itself.

The Egg’s surprise is a miniature two-sided portrait on a stand, depicting the Danish King Christian IX and his consort Louise of Hesse-Kassel.

In July of 1917 the Egg was kept at the Gatchina Palace.

Whereabouts unknown.