Rothschild (Fabergé egg)

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The Rothschild egg is a jewelled enameled decorated egg made under the supervision of the Russian jeweller Peter Carl Fabergé in 1902,^[1] for Béatrice Ephrussi de Rothschild, who presented the egg to Germaine Halphen, due to the latter's engagement to Béatrice's younger brother, Édouard Alphonse James de Rothschild.^[2]

1 Surprise
2 Similarities with Kelch Chanticleer egg
3 History
4 2007 sale
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Surprise

Upon the hour, a diamond set cockerel pops up from the top of the egg, flaps its wings four times, nods his head three times, crowing all the while during this routine. This lasts fifteen seconds, before the clock strikes the hour on a bell.^[3]

[edit] Similarities with Kelch Chanticleer egg

As one of only four eggs with an ornamentation surprise and a clock, similarities have been drawn with the 1904 Kelch Chanticleer egg.^[2]

[edit] History

It is one of the few eggs that was not made for the Russian Imperial family, and has remained in the Rothschild family since 1905.

[edit] 2007 sale

It was sold by Christie's auction house on November 28, 2007, for £8.9 million (including commission).^[4] The price achieved by the egg set three auction records: it is the most expensive timepiece, Russian object, and Fabergé object ever sold at auction, surpassing the $9.6 million sale of the 1913 Winter egg in 2002.^[4]^[5]

The egg was bought by Alexander Ivanov, the director of the Russian National Museum. "It's one of the most beautiful, valuable and most intricate Fabergé eggs ever," Ivanov said, as well as adding that "We didn't have investors, and this egg will go into the private museum which we are building in downtown Moscow. We will not resell it."^[5]