The Fabergé Winter Egg will appear at Christie’s London on December 2nd, 2025, marking the first time an Imperial Fabergé egg has come to public auction in over two decades. This rock crystal marvel is estimated to sell for more than £20 million and represents one of the most significant opportunities for collectors to acquire an Imperial Easter egg. Only six others remain in private hands.
Emperor Nicholas II commissioned this piece in 1913 for his mother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty. Alma Theresia Pihl, one of Fabergé’s rare female designers, was the creative force behind the design, which was executed by her uncle, workmaster Albert Holmström. The commission cost 24,600 roubles at the time, reflecting the extraordinary complexity and materials involved.
Technical excellence and design
The egg itself stands 5 5/8 inches high on its rock crystal base, which is engraved with a delicate frost design on the interior. Snowflake motifs made of rose-cut diamonds set in platinum adorn the exterior, and two vertical diamond-set platinum borders cleverly conceal a hinge on the side. A cabochon moonstone dated 1913 serves decorative and historical purposes.
The piece’s remarkable rock crystal base is sculpted to resemble melting ice, with rose-cut, diamond-set platinum rivulets flowing down its surface. A platinum pin anchors the center of the egg to provide support, demonstrating the technical sophistication required for such a design. The attention to natural phenomena extends throughout the piece, capturing a specific moment of transition.
Hidden treasure within
Opening the egg reveals the true ingenuity of Phill’s design. Suspended from a platinum hook is a double-handled, trelliswork basket set with rose-cut diamonds throughout. Inside this miniature vessel, finely carved white quartz anemones emerge from a bed of gold moss. Each spring flower features gold wire stems and stamens, and a demantoid garnet sits at the center of each flower.
The leaves, carved from nephrite, add yet another precious material to the composition. The base of the basket bears the engraving “Fabergé 1913,” confirming its origin and creation date. This interior surprise embodies the Easter symbolism central to these imperial commissions, representing resurrection and the transition from winter’s severity to spring’s renewal.
Alma Pihl’s vision
Pihl was born in 1888 into a family deeply embedded within Fabergé’s operations. Her grandfather, August Holmström, served as one of Fabergé’s leading workmasters, and her father, Oscar Pihl, headed the Moscow workshop. Following her father’s passing, the family moved to St. Petersburg, and Alma joined her uncle Albert Holmström’s workshop at twenty years old.
Initially, she was tasked with creating life-size watercolor designs to serve as archival records. She used her spare time to sketch original concepts. Recognizing her talent, her uncle began ordering pieces based on her designs for the store’s stock inventory. This marked the beginning of her brief but influential career, which produced two of the most celebrated Imperial Easter Eggs.
The snowflake motif that defines the Winter Egg came from direct observation. According to historical accounts, Alma gazed out her frost-covered workshop window and saw ice crystals forming “like a garden of exquisite frozen flowers.” Inspired by this sight, she recreated these delicate frost patterns using rock crystal, platinum, and rose-cut diamonds. Her subsequent design, the Mosaic pattern, appeared in the 1914 Imperial Easter Egg, which is now held in the Royal Collection in England.
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Imperial tradition
Between 1885 and 1916, the House of Fabergé completed fifty Imperial Easter Eggs for the Russian royal family. Emperor Alexander III started the tradition by commissioning ten eggs between 1885 and 1894 for his wife, Empress Maria Feodorovna. His son, Nicholas II, continued the tradition by presenting forty more eggs to his mother and wife, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.
Fabergé’s chief designer, Franz Birbaum, documented the process in his 1919 memoirs. He noted that the designs of the Easter eggs did not have to be approved by the court, and that Fabergé was given complete freedom in design and execution. Most Imperial Easter eggs took nearly a year to complete, with work beginning shortly after Easter and barely finishing by Holy Week the following year.
Of the fifty completed eggs, forty-three still exist today. Ten reside at the Armory Museum in the Moscow Kremlin, while others belong to major museums and private collectors worldwide. The Winter Egg is one of only seven Imperial eggs remaining in private hands, so its appearance at auction is exceptionally rare.
Journey through time
Compared to other Imperial eggs, the Winter Egg’s provenance is exceptionally well documented. Following the 1917 Revolution, it was transferred from St. Petersburg to the Kremlin Armory in Moscow, along with other imperial possessions. Desperate for foreign currency, the Soviet government began selling art treasures from the Hermitage and national collections in the 1920s.
In the late 1920s or early 1930s, Wartski of London acquired the egg for £450. The London dealer then sold it in 1934 to Napier Sturt, the 3rd Baron Alington, for £1,500. The egg later entered the collection of Sir Bernard Eckstein before being sold at a London auction in 1949. There, Arthur Bryan Ledbrook purchased it for £1,700.
After Ledbrook’s death in 1975, the egg vanished and remained lost for nearly two decades. It was rediscovered in 1994 and sold at a Christie’s Geneva auction, setting a world record for a Fabergé work at 7,263,500 Swiss francs. Eight years later, on April 19th, 2002, Christie’s New York sold the egg again for $9,579,500, setting another record.
Market context
Margo Oganesian, Christie’s Head of Department for Fabergé and Russian Works of Art, commented on the upcoming sale: “It is a privilege for Christie’s to be entrusted with the sale of the exquisite ‘Winter Egg’ by Fabergé for the third time in its history. With only six other Imperial Easter Eggs remaining in private collections, this is an extraordinary chance for collectors to acquire one of Fabergé’s finest creations, both technically and artistically. It would undoubtedly enhance the most distinguished collection.”
Christie’s holds the auction record for Fabergé, set in 2007 when the Rothschild Egg sold for £8.9 million in London. More recently, in 2021, the house sold the Harry Woolf Collection, which realized £5.2 million. Sergei Mosunov, the current owner of the Fabergé brand who acquired the company in August 2025, expressed his excitement about the upcoming auction.
He stated, “I am profoundly excited that this masterpiece has come to market, and it was an honor and a privilege to have the opportunity to privately view and hold the Fabergé Winter Egg at Christie’s before the announcement was made. For me, this unique objet d’art embodies the historic legacy of the House of Fabergé and the story of Northern Palmyra, realized through exceptional artistry and craftsmanship.”
The December 2 sale will feature nearly fifty lots of Fabergé works from the same collection, with estimates ranging from £2,000 to £2 million. Notable pieces include a rare hardstone model of a street painter by Boris Fredman Cluzel from 1916, estimated at £1.5 to £2 million. A jeweled, gold-mounted nephrite miniature sleigh by workmaster Michael Perchin, dating to around 1890, is estimated at £350,000 to £450,000.
Perhaps most significant for scholars and collectors is an extremely rare and important album of designs from Henrik Wigström’s workshop, covering the years 1911 to 1916. It is estimated at £500,000 to £800,000. Smaller works include a rare jeweled hardstone rooster by Henrik Wigström and various bell pushers, with estimates ranging from £20,000 to £70,000.
The auction will take place during Classic Week in London, showcasing the Winter Egg alongside other notable art and luxury items. For those unable to attend in person, Christie’s offers various bidding options through its established auction platforms.