LONDON: Faberge’s The Winter Egg, considered one of his most beautiful creations, sold for nearly 23 million ($30m) at auction in London on Tuesday, smashing the sales record for the legendary jeweller of imperial Russia.

It is the third time the delicate bejewelled egg, which went under the hammer at Christie’s auction house, has set a record for a work by Carl Faberge.

An as-yet unnamed buyer stumped up 22.9m pounds for the dazzling piece created more than a century ago, amid strong interest among international collectors, according to the London auctioneers.

It had put a pre-sale estimate price of more than 20 million on “the exquisite” crystal egg, commissioned by Russia’s Tsar Nicholas II for his mother in 1913.

“Today’s result sets a new world auction record for a work by Faberge, reaffirming the enduring significance of this masterpiece,” Christie’s Margo Oganesian said in a statement minutes after the hammer came down.

She added the sale celebrated “the rarity and brilliance of what is widely regarded as one of Faberge’s finest creations, both technically and artistically”.

The previous sales record for a Faberge egg — the Rothschild Egg, which was not made for the imperial family — had stood at nearly 9 million since it was sold in 2007 to a Russian collector.

Faberge, the master jeweller whose creations bedazzled Russia, created 50 Imperial Easter Eggs for the then-ruling Romanov family over a 31-year period, making them incredibly rare and valuable, Oganesian said ahead of the auction.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2025