Rare Fabergé egg fetches record £22.9m at London auction

A diamond-encrusted Fabergé egg that belonged to the Russian Imperial Family has sold for a record £22.9 million ($30.2 million) in London.

Christie’s Auction House said that the Winter Egg, considered one of the legendary jeweler’s most beautiful creations, was purchased by an anonymous bidder on Tuesday.

It is decorated with 4,500 diamonds and was ordered by Tsar Nicholas II in 1913 as a gift for his mother.

The previous record for a Fabergé egg was £8.9 million paid at auction in 2007.

“Today’s result sets a new world record at a global auction for a Fabergé work, which reaffirms the enduring importance of this masterpiece,” AFP quoted Margo Oganesyan of Christie’s News as saying.

The 8.2 cm (3.2 in) high egg was created by Carl Fabergé, based on a design by Alma Theresia Biehl, one of only two women working at the St. Petersburg jewelry company.

It is sculpted from rock crystal and decorated with rose-cut diamonds, as well as a platinum snowflake motif.

The egg opens to reveal a small basket of white quartz flowers inside.

The Fabergé family only made 50 eggs for Russia’s Imperial Romanov Family, and the Imperial Winter Egg is one of only seven remaining in private hands.

Others are either lost or owned by institutions or museums.

Eggs were made from 1885 until Tsar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate in 1917.