Macklemore was right, thrift shopping is the way to go!
A scrap metal dealer doing what he does best found one of the eight missing Faberge imperial eggs at a flea market in the American Midwest. A London antique dealer said Wednesday that that the scrap metal entrepreneur bought the egg for about $14,000, thinking he could make a small profit by reselling the piece for its gold content. It turned out the jewel-encrusted piece was worth millions.
Independent Faberge expert Geza von Habsburg said the egg is “absolutely genuine” and matches the one-line description found in records kept by Russia’s Imperial Cabinet. The egg, which contains a Vacheron Constantin watch, sits on a jewelled gold stand and was given by Alexander III to his wife Empress Maria Feodorovna in Easter 1887.
Only 50 of the imperial eggs were made for the royal family, and eight remained missing before the latest find, though only three of those are known to have survived the Russian revolution. “I think it’s pretty exciting,” said Tatiana Zherebkina, spokeswoman for Faberge. “The experts seem to agree it’s authentic and of imperial provenance — one of the eight missing eggs.” It will be on display at Wartski’s London showroom April 14-17, the first time it would have been seen in public for 112 years.
