Eight Rules for Discovering Fabergé Imperial Eggs and their Surprises

By Anna and Vincent Palmade (Independent Researchers, USA)

Vincent and Anna Palmade, New York, 2017

This article is drawn from a talk made by the Palmade at the Fabergé Symposium which took place in Richmond, Virginia, on July 27, 2018.  It presents eight Rules which enabled the many important recent discoveries made regarding the famous Fabergé Imperial Easter eggs and the surprises contained within them. These discoveries concern five Imperial eggs (out of fifty delivered) and five surprises as listed below:

Recent Egg Discoveries

1989: Flower Basket Egg identified in the British Royal Collection

2004: Resurrection Egg attributed as the surprise of the Renaissance Egg

2007: Third Imperial Egg and Cherub with Chariot Egg spotted in old photograph

2008: Revised Fabergé Imperial egg chronology

2008: First picture of Nécessaire Egg found in old Wartski exhibition photograph 

2011: Picture and detailed description of Third Imperial Egg found in old catalogue

2013: Twelve Monogram Egg’s missing surprise uncovered in old catalogue

2014: Third Imperial Egg rediscovered

2015: Diamond Trellis Egg’s surprise found in the British Royal Collection

2015: Item 10 on the “Gatchina List” identifies missing Empire Nephrite Egg 

2017: Rose Trellis Egg’s lost surprise found in old photograph

2017: Nécessaire Egg’s clearest image to date found on the Internet

2017: Clover Egg’s missing surprise identified in old photograph

Before discussing each of the eight Rules, we need to acknowledge that these discoveries have been fueled by two seminal publications The Fabergé Imperial Easter Eggs (Fabergé, Proler, & Skurlov, 1997) and Fabergé Eggs: A Retrospective Encyclopedia (Lowes & McCanless, 2001) There are several wonderful websites, including “Annemiek’s Eggs” and “Fabergé Research” which allow a growing number of Fabergé enthusiasts to stay informed and connected, and exchange discoveries — as each new discovery builds on the previous ones, we will now discuss these through the prism of our eight Rules.

Rule 1: Break the Rule

Breaking the rule was the key to the famous discovery of the no-longer-missing Third Imperial Egg (1887[1]) authenticated in 2014 by Kieran McCarthy (Joint Managing Director of Wartski, the renowned Fabergé dealer in London).  This egg would not have been found unless Jeffrey Eger, a dealer of antique auction catalogues, had not broken the rule stating that he would not sell us catalogues with fewer than five Fabergé objects in them. Jeffrey applied Rule 1 in July 2011 when he sold us the March 6, 1964 Parke-Bernet catalog which listed only three Fabergé objects – it turned out to be four, still short of the “rule of five”. The fourth object, lot 259, was the missing Third Imperial Egg. It went unnoticed at the 1964 auction because, lacking Fabergémarks (like the 1885 First Hen Egg), it was not described as Fabergé – but rather, as a “Gold watch in egg-form case…by Vacheron Constantin”. Fortunately, and probably because of its beauty, the catalogue did feature a good picture of it (very few lots were pictured in catalogues at the time) which allowed us to match it to the rather indistinct egg-shaped object we had found in October 2007 in the 1902 von Dervis Exhibition vitrine of the Fabergé Imperial eggs belonging to Maria Feodorovna.[2]The good picture and detailed catalog description of the Third Imperial Egg led the unsuspecting anonymous owner, who googled “egg” and “Vacheron Constantin,” to the Sunday Telegraph article reporting our discovery of the egg in the 1964 Catalogue entitled “Is this £20 million egg on your mantelpiece?”[3]It turned out the egg was in his kitchen cabinet. 

Rule 2: Use your Magnifying Glass

This fundamental rule led to many discoveries.  The first one happened in 1989, when George Terrell Jr. (Professor of history and geography at Gadsden College, Alabama) recognized, in the 1902 von Dervis picture of the vitrine containing the Imperial eggs belonging to Alexandra Feodorovna, the Flower Basket Egg (1901) from the British Royal Collection which, until then, was not thought to be an Imperial Fabergé egg[4].  Rule 2 also led us, on the same October 2007 night and in the same 1902 picture where we found the Third Imperial Egg, to the first image (a blurry reflection in the vitrine’s glass) of the still missing Cherub with Chariot Egg (1888) which had been hiding behind the Caucasus Egg (1893) in the picture since 1902[5].  Most recently and as discussed immediately below, Rule 2 (in combination with Rule 3) was used to devastating good effect to find the first known pictures of two missing surprises.   

Rule 3: Look Again

The missing surprise of the Rose Trellis Egg (1907) 'diamond chain with medallion and miniature of HIH Grand Duke and Tsarevich Alexei Nicholaevich' was identified, using Rule 2, by Fabergéegg enthusiast Greg Daubney in October 2017[6]. A few weeks later, Annemiek Wintraecken (host of the Mieks FabergéEggs website and with many major egg discoveries to her name – including the 2008 revised Fabergé Imperial egg chronology) applied Rule 3 and found another missing Imperial Fabergé egg surprise in the same picture! Annemiek tells her story on her website: “While working on the identification of the possible surprise to the Rose Trellis Egg, I noticed the Empress in the same photo wearing a brooch or pin that resembled a four-leaf clover. Imperial Egg lovers know what that means, the surprise to the Clover Leaf Egg (1902). Could it be? Or is this just too good to be true? On the other hand, the same goes here as with the Rose Trellis Medallion, how many four-leaf clover jewels with miniatures could the Empress have had in 1908? And was she not only wearing a portrait of her only son, but of all her five children that day in June 1908?”[7] Annemiek’s journey is also related in Dr. Ulla Tillander’s latest book full of new and fascinating information about Fabergé[8].

Rule 4: Have a Glass of Wine while Surfing the Internet

Rule 4 was successfully applied in 2017 by Kelly Bond (Fabergéegg enthusiast from the UK) who discovered the best picture to date of the missing Nécessaire Egg (1889) thanks to “a little googling over a glass of wine” as reported by the Daily Mail[9]. The origin of the picture is not yet known, but its quality has reignited the hunt for this egg, which is known to have survived the Russian Revolution. Kelly Bond’s discovery was made possible by her knowledge of Kieran McCarthy’s earlier discovery, using Rule 2, of the Nécessaire Egg lying hidden at the bottom of a vitrine in a picture of the 1949 Wartski Exhibition[10].  This is another case of one discovery leading to another – hence the importance of sharing and publishing information.

Rule 5: Check out your Display Cabinet

Caroline de Guitaut (Curator of the British Royal Collection) found in 2015 the missing elephant automaton surprise of the Diamond Trellis Egg (1892) by applying Rule 5 to one of the many display cabinets of the British Royal Collection. The elephant had gone unnoticed because of the lack of apparent Fabergé marks – Caroline de Guitaut recognized it thanks to her recollection of the description of the Diamond Trellis Egg surprise in the Fabergé invoice.  Caroline de Guitaut subsequently discovered the Fabergé marks within the tower on the back of the elephant, which put her discovery beyond doubt.[11]The elephant has been reunited with its egg in the McFerrin collection in Houston for a one-year period and both are reported to be getting along just fine as can be seen in the picture below.  

Rule 6: Play with your Fabergé Collection

Christopher “Kip” Forbes (Vice Chairman of the Forbes Publishing Company) found the missing surprise of the Renaissance Egg (1894) while indulging with Rule 6 in 2004 just before parting with his stunning Fabergécollection assembled by his late father, the fame Malcom Forbes, and which is now in the FabergéMuseum in St Petersburg. As “Kip” was handling the Resurrection and Renaissance Eggs, he discovered that the former fit perfectly within the latter, suggesting that the Resurrection Egg might indeed be the missing surprise of the Renaissance Egg.  “Kip“ supported his theory by pointing out that both eggs were in the same Renaissance style and that the five pearls present on the Resurrection Egg resolved the mystery of the pearls mentioned on the Fabergé invoice being absent from the Renaissance Egg itself.  “Kip” also noticed that both eggs were at the 1902 von Dervis exhibition in the vitrine showing the Fabergé Imperial eggs belonging to Maria Feodorovna with the surprises separated from the eggs[12]. 

Rule 7: Play with your Legos

Rule 7 can be very useful as a less onerous and risky alternative to Rule 6.  This is the rule our son Boris used to reproduce a replica of the folding screen depicted in Carl Fabergé: Goldsmith to the Imperial Court of Russiaby Kenneth Snowman, the late Chairman of Wartski, using the dimensions indicated in the book[13].  Although that folding screen matched perfectly the description in the Fabergéinvoice of the missing surprise of Hillwood’s Twelve Monogram Egg (1896), a physical fitting try was in order to be sure. Like Cinderella’s foot, Boris’ Lego replica fit perfectly the Twelve Monogram Egg (1896), showing that the folding screen was indeed its surprise.  Additional (and more academic) evidence in support of this discovery can be found in the article we wrote for the 2018 Fabergé Rediscoveredcatalogue edited by Wilfried Zeisler, Chief Curator of Hillwood Museum in Washington DC[14], where the Twelve Monogram Egg awaits its surprise, last seen publicly at Christie’s in Geneva in 1980.  In the meantime, Hillwood produced a beautiful 3D printed replica of the surprise published here for the first time with their authorization. The picture on the left shows how the folded 3D replica screen fit perfectly within the egg, while the picture on the right shows the unfolded 3D replica screen with the shadows of the six portraits of Alexander III it once contained. 

Rule 8: Restore your Imperial Egg Carefully

If past owners of the Empire Nephrite Egg (1902) had applied this rule, the authenticity of the egg might not have once been contested. This egg surfaced in 1995, it fit the description for the Empire Nephrite Egg in the Fabergé invoice[15]but was missing the miniature within the frame. Previous owners placed a miniature of Alexander III using a description mistakenly associated with the Empire Nephrite Egg at that time[16]. The result of this misguided and undisclosed restoration was cumbersome (the miniature of Alexander III did not fit well as can be seen in the left picture below) leaving many Fabergé experts perplexed. But in 2015, it was realized that item 10 on the “Gatchina List” (an inventory of Maria Feodorovna’s objects made in 1917 at the Gatchina Palace - found by Preben Ulstrup, renowned biographer of Maria Feodorovna, and first displayed and published in 2013[17]) matched both the Empire Nephrite Egg and the rediscovered egg: “Egg with gold mounts on two columns from nephrite, inside portraits of Olga Alexandrovna and Prince P.A. Oldenburg” (the original Russian text is pictured below). This egg is listed among seven Fabergé Imperial eggs (including three which are still missing!) and clearly celebrates the wedding of Olga and Peter in August 1901 – it also fits the Fabergé invoice description as well as the egg pictured below with which it shares the unique feature of being “on two columns”.  We are part of the team which believes this is the 1902 Nephrite Empire Egg based on extensive and recently published research[18].  Above on the right is the egg as it is today following a fully reversible restoration. 

Conclusion

The tireless application of these Eight Rules by a growing number of Fabergé professionals and enthusiasts has only left six (out of fifty delivered) Fabergé Imperial eggs and ten of their surprises (or part of surprises) left to be discovered. Furthermore, the application of these rules has brought to the surface precious new information about these missing eggs and surprises which should greatly increase their chances of being rediscovered as indicated below. 

What is left to be discovered (and the clues)

1886 Hen Egg with Sapphire (written description)

1888 Cherub with Chariot Egg (sketch based on blurry reflection)

1889 Nécessaire Egg (good picture - survived Russian revolution and WWII)

1897 Mauve Egg (in “Gatchina List” - surprise extant)

1903 Royal Danish Egg (Fabergé picture and in “Gatchina List”)

1909 Alexander III Commemorative Egg (Fabergé picture and in “Gatchina List”)

AND

Ten missing surprises or parts of surprises:

1885 First Hen Egg - Crown and ruby egg pendant (picture)
1895 Rosebud Egg -Crown and ruby egg pendant (picture)

1896 Twelve Monogram Egg – Six miniatures of Alexander III (picture of frame)
1897 Coronation Egg -Emerald pendant egg in coach (written description)

1899 Madonna Lily Clock Egg - Ruby pendant egg (picture)
1900 Cockerel Egg -Pearl decorating the swag of the dial (picture)

1902 Clover Leaf Egg - Four-leaf clover with four miniatures (picture)

1902 Empire Nephrite Egg – Original miniature of Olga and Peter

1907 Love Trophies Egg - Miniature of Imperial children (written description)
1907 Rose Trellis Egg -Diamond necklace with medallion of Alexei (picture)

So the hunt goes on!

Notes:

[1]Annemiek Wintraecken first associated this Egg with the missing 1887 Egg as part of her new Egg chronology discovery (November 2008)

[2]CfOur November 2007 article

[3]Cf The Sunday Telegraph article

[4]Lowes, Will & Christel McCanless, Fabergé Eggs: A Retrospective Encyclopedia,London, 2001, p. 77

[5]CfOur November 2007 article

[6]Cf The full story

[7]http://www.wintraecken.nl/mieks/faberge/research/1902-Clover-Leaf-Egg-Surprise.htm

[8]Tillander, Ulla, Fabergéhis masters and artisans, London, 2018, p. 132

[9]Cf. 29 December, 2017, Daily Mail

[10]https://fabergeresearch.com/eggs-recent-discoveries/

[11]Cf. The full story here.

[12]Christopher Forbes’ discovery is related in von Habsburg, Géza,Fabergé; Treasures from Imperial Russia,Link of Times Foundation, 2004, p. 121

[13]Snowman, Kenneth, Carl Fabergé: Goldsmith to the Imperial Court of Russia, London, 1979, p. 56

[14]Palmade, Anna and Vincent, The Twelve Monograms Egg’s Missing Surprise Identified, Ziesler, Wilfried (ed.), Fabergé Rediscovered, Washington D.C., 2018, p. 161

[15]Fabergé, Tatiana, Lynette Proler, & Valentin Skurlov,The Fabergé Imperial Easter Eggs, London, 1997, p. 159

[16]op. cit.

[17]Ulstrup, Preben, Fashion and Style of the Court of Empress Maria Feodorovna, Mironenko, Sergei (ed.), Russian Empresses Fashion and Style,the State Archive of the Russian Federation (GARF), Moscow, 2013, P. 373 

[18]Nicholson, Nicholas (ed.), Tatiana Fabergé, et. al., Fabergé: The Imperial “Empire” Egg of 1902, 2017