In one of many volumes I have relating to Fabergé, the author said it was Fabergé's goal that each Egg made for the Tsar be more beautiful than the last. I marvel that both Fabergé and his staff had the creative genius to do this because, of course, that is precisely what they did. Each time I see a new Egg I am further astounded at the beauty that the House of Fabergé was able to create. It always took at least a year to create an Egg, and in some cases even longer - for example the Coronation Egg, and the Coronation Coach inside it, where the coach alone took 15 months to make, not including the time to design it! Each Egg is like a small and beautiful man-made miracle. Isn't it amazing that we humans are able to create beauty such as this? -- Elayne

The Lilies of the Valley Egg was given by Nicholas II to his wife, Tsarina Alexandra Fedorovna, for Easter 1898. It was a reminder of the glorious gardens at the Winter Palace where Nicholas' mother, the Dowager Empress Maria Fedorovna, had turned the grounds into a world filled with flowers. The children of Nicholas and Alexandra loved to gather flowers in those gardens and both the Empress Maria and the Tsarina Alexandra were often the recipients of huge bouquets that the children had gathered for them. Lilies of the Valley were plentiful in the gardens, hence this Egg. It is to be noted that Peter Carl Fabergé also was a lover of flowers and that probably explains the gemstone flowers he made that were collected by the Queen of England.

The Egg is a translucent pink enamel guilloché. It is divided into six panels by streamers of diamonds originating at the apex of the Egg and drifting down onto the green gold cabriole legs. Each curled foot bears a single large pearl. Stemming from the base of the Egg each panel is overlaid with dimensional stalks of Lilies of the Valley; the leaves realistically shaped of green enamel guilloché, the stems of green gold bearing life sized pearl blossoms, and each blossom edged in diamonds. It is so lavish that seen in person, it fairly takes one's breath away. It is appropriate here to remark that in today's world one does not see lavishness on such a scale. It was peculiar to the period of time in which the Eggs were created, and experienced only by the very few in the world who enjoyed enormous wealth.

At the apex of the Egg there is a replica of the Imperial Crown entirely covered with diamonds. On the original Egg, when you touched a particular pearl the Crown rose up out of the Egg revealing portraits of Tsar Nicholas and the Grand Duchesses Olga and Tatiana, each portrait set in a diamond rimmed oval frame. On our Egg the crown rises with a touch of the hand to reveal the three portraits done in the same manner.

The materials in our Egg are 24 karat gold plated sterling silver, Austrian crystals and cultured pearls.

Our price: $4000.00.