If you were obsessed with the Anastasia Romanov mystery as a kid, then you'll find the story behind the famous Russian Imperial Easter eggs just as thrilling. Fabergé Egg history is full of creativity, romance, intrigue, smuggling, and rediscovery. And the best part is — unlike the lost princess myth — it's all real.
Top 4 Most Expensive Fabergé Eggs Ever Sold
Let's head back in time, before Stalin and the Soviet Empire, before the Bolsheviks took over in the October Revolution, to Imperial Russia. Aside from the famed lost Anastasia myth, there's one thing most people recognize from this period — Fabergé's Easter Eggs.
Tsar Alexander III first commissioned the eggs as an Easter present for his wife, Empress Maria Feodorovna. His son, Tsar Nicholas II, continued the tradition during his subsequent reign. Known as Imperial Eggs, historians and collectors have tracked down 43 of the 50 that were made, many of which have sold for seven or more figures at auction.
| Fabergé Egg | Record Sales Price |
| The Winter Egg | $30.5 million |
| The Rothschild Clock Egg | $25.1 million |
| The Pine Cone Egg | $7.73 million |
| The Love Trophies/Cradle With Garlands Egg | $6.94 million |
The Winter Egg: $30.5 Million
The Winter Egg currently holds the record as the most expensive Fabergé egg, and is the first of the Imperial eggs to make this list.
Tsar Nicholas II commissioned the Winter Egg for his mother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, and presented it to her in 1913. According to the 1994 Christie's auction details, the egg was carved out of rock crystal and adorned with platinum and diamond rivulets to create an icy illusion. Inside the egg was a basket of white anemones, set with precious and semi-precious metals and stones.
In 2002, the egg was sold in a private auction to an undocumented collector for $9,579,500. Accounting for inflation, that amounts to about $16.25 million today.
Yet, the Winter Egg surpassed The Rothschild Clock Egg's record-setting sales price in a 2025 Christie's auction. The 1913 egg sold for a record-breaking $30.5 million.
Many Fabergé eggs have been sold in private for undisclosed amounts. Thus, the Winter Egg might not be the most expensive Imperial egg ever sold.
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The Rothschild Clock Egg: $25.1 Million
Shockingly, one of the most expensive Fabergé eggs ever sold at auction wasn't even an Imperial egg. Fabergé's workshop didn't create Easter eggs only for the Tsarina, but for a few other related family members and the Russian elite as well.
One of these — named the Rothschild Clock egg — is covered in pink chevron guilloche enamel, gold, and semi-precious jewels. From inside the egg, an automaton cockerel pops out, beats its wings, and moves its head. Beatrice Ephrussi de Rothschild commissioned the egg for her sister-in-to-be, Germaine Halphen, in 1902.
In exquisite condition, this Fabergé egg sold in a Christie's auction in 2007 for £8.9 million, which (accounting for inflation) amounts to about $25.1 million today. It now resides in Alexander Ivanov's — the director of the Russian National Museum's — personal collection.
The Pine Cone Egg: $7.73 Million
McDonald's and Imperial Russia couldn't be further apart… or so you'd think.
The Pine Cone Egg is one of Fabergé's famed enamel eggs commissioned by Alexander Kelch for his wife, Barbara Kelch-Bazanov, in 1900. This non-Imperial egg features a pine-cone-like pattern, fleshed out with royal blue enamel, silver, gold, and diamonds.
The treat inside the egg is a miniature elephant made of silver, gold, ivory, diamonds, and enamel. The egg was sold in a private auction in 1989 to — you probably didn't guess it — McDonald's creator Ray Kroc's widow, Joan. Reportedly, it sold for $3.14 million at the time, which (adjusting for inflation) comes to $7,726,147.26 today.
One of Fabergé's most impressive innovations is how he perfected the en ronde bosse enameling technique, where pigmented glass is layered on irregular objects, most notably these beautiful eggs.
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The Love Trophies Egg: $6.94 Million
In 1907, Tsar Nicholas II gifted the Love Trophies Egg (aka the Cradle with Garlands Egg) to his mother, Maria Feodorovna. This enameled egg lies horizontally on a display cradle decked out with rose garlands and gilding. You'll find rubies, pearls, diamonds, onyx, and silk galore on this fabulous egg. Unfortunately, the surprise white enamel easel and miniature portrait of the Imperial children that was inside is still lost.
Even without the prize inside, this Imperial egg sold for an impressive $3.19 million in 1992, which equals $6,937,260.94 today (adjusted for inflation). Currently, Robert M. Lee holds the egg in his private collection.
The Infamous Viktor Vekselberg Fabergé Auction
In 2004, Sotheby's was set to facilitate the massive Forbes Fabergé egg collection sale. Before it could come to fruition, Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg bought the lot for an estimated $100 million. The nine eggs he bought are estimated to be some of the most valuable out of the 50 Imperial eggs. These encompass a variety of styles and sizes and are currently on display at the Fabergé Museum in Russia.
The nine eggs he bought from the auction are:
- The Hen Egg: 1885
- The Renaissance Egg: 1894
- The Rosebud Egg: 1895
- The Coronation Egg: 1897
- The Lilies of the Valley Egg: 1898
- The Cockerel Egg: 1900
- The Bay-Tree Egg: 1911
- The Fifteenth Anniversary Egg: 1911
- The Order of Saint George Egg: 1916
The Third Imperial Egg: Thrift Store Trinket to Multi-Million Discovery
Part of the thrill of browsing through thrift stores and flea markets is seeing if you can discover a hidden treasure worth millions of dollars that's seriously underpriced.
One anonymous Midwestern scrap metal dealer got a lucky break when he bought a glittering gold egg for a little over $13,000 at a flea market, hoping to make his money back after melting it down. Unfortunately, the melted gold wasn't going to come anywhere close to how much he shelled out.
But through some desperate nights and a little bit of Googling, he stumbled across something that every thrifter dreams of. This little gold egg was a famous lost Imperial Fabergé egg. After being examined by experts, it was confirmed to be the egg that had been lost since 1922. In 2014, a private collector bought the egg for an unknown amount, but experts estimate the lost relic is worth somewhere in the $33 million ballpark.
Anastasia's Escape Is a Myth, but Fabergé Eggs Are Real
So much of Eastern European heritage has been wiped out by Western overtures, war, revolutions, and oppressive regimes. But the pieces we do have from periods like late Imperial Russia let us peek into a long-gone era. And while we don't quite have Fabergé egg money lying around to own a piece of it for ourselves, we can drool over pictures of it all day long.
