The House of Faberge

One name, one history…

The story begins in 1842 in St. Petersburg, Russia, where Gustav Faberge a Baltic German jeweller opened the jewellery firm House of Faberge, which his son, Peter Carl inherited. The firm has been famous for designing elaborate jewel-encrusted Faberge eggs for the Russian Tsars and a range of other work of high quality and intricate details.

The first Faberge egg was crafted for Tsar Alexander III, who had decided to give his wife, the Empress Maria Fedorovna, an Easter egg in 1885, possibly to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their betrothal. Known as the Hen Egg, the first Faberge egg is crafted from gold. Its opaque white enameled "shell" opens to reveal its first surprise, a matte yellow-gold yolk. This in turn opens to reveal a multicolored gold hen that also opens. The hen contained a minute diamond replica of the imperial crown from which a small ruby pendant was suspended, but these last two elements have been lost.

Hen Egg

Nowadays, you can admire the world’s largest collection of Faberge eggs in the Faberge Museum located in the German spa city of Baden-Baden. It was opened on 9 May 2009 by Russian art collector Alexander Ivanov. Also, the House of Faberge not only creates luxury eggs but jewellery, timepieces and objects d’art, as well.