Fabergé eggs are studded with jewels and precious metals and were traditionally given to the wives of Russian Tsars Alexander III and Nicholas II as holiday gifts. Only 43 such eggs, crafted under the supervision of Peter Carl Fabergé between 1885 and 1917 in St. Petersberg, in Imperial Russia, survive. Now, almost 100 years after the end of the Romanov dynasty, Fabergé has teamed up with luxury car manufacturer Rolls-Royce to design a new egg for a single “discerning patron.”
Why Rolls-Royce? It’s about attention to detail, and about the willingness to go all out to create something truly fabulous. As for naming names, Rolls-Royce won’t name the buyer, but they’ll tell you the names of the designers of the egg. That would be Rolls-Royce designers Stefan Monro and Alex Innes. Once designed, Fabergé lead designer Liisa Tallgren, headed a team of seven craftsmen in the actual creation of the egg.
The egg’s base is of engine-turned 18-karat white gold, hand-engraved and covered in a purple enamel guilloche. The shape of the egg is formed by “arms of rose gold” covered in almost 10 carats of round white diamonds. The diamonds are followed up by a trail of carefully selected high quality purple amethysts weighing over 390 carats. All of these elements combine to form a cradle for the hand-sculpted frosted rock crystal “Spirit of Ecstasy.”
Imperial Class eggs all contain an element to surprise and delight. In this case, a lever located at the base of the egg’s stand, opens up the egg to free the small sculpture from her “high-end prison.”
The egg is on display at the Fabergé store in London during the holiday season, after which it will be delivered to its lucky owner.
