As you may have guessed by its appearance, the Fabergé egg was first developed as an Easter present.
We have included Fabergé in our A to Z, because many people often hear the words “Fabergé Egg” in conversations regarding jewellery and don’t understand its origin.
Although the Fabergé family’s jewellery history can be traced back to the 1600s in Russia, the story really establishes itself in 1885 when Peter Fabergé was commissioned to make a jewelled egg as an Easter present for the Tsar of Russia to give to his wife.
He received international acclaim at the great exhibition in Paris in 1900 and was later commissioned by the British Royal Family.
The egg was so well received that Fabergé was asked to make several more as special presents for royalty. Over a period spanning 30 years, 69 of these extremely precious, highly decorated golden eggs were commissioned. Each one not only differed on the outside, but internally the egg held different surprises, similar to the chocolate Easter eggs that children receive today. Instead of chocolate, however, the surprises inside were often large Rubies and other precious gemstones.
The House of Fabergé still remains very influential in the jewellery industry today.
