You might want to double check that weird ornament on your nan’s mantelpiece - because not long ago, a $30 million treasure was nearly melted down for spare parts.
This tale begins in the American Midwest sometime around the year 2002, where a man who bought and sold gold for scrap found a golden egg at a jumble sale. Measuring just 82mm tall and decorated with diamonds and sapphires, he paid US$14,000 for it, basing the price purely on its weight and the value of the gems.
Knowing nothing of its history, he intended to turn a quick profit by selling it to a buyer who would melt it down. But prospective buyers thought he had overestimated the price and turned him down - repeatedly.
After sitting on his kitchen counter for about 10 years, the scrap dealer grew curious. Some late-night Googling led him to an article about the missing Third Imperial Fabergé Easter Egg, last seen in public in 1902 in St Petersburg. His battered golden trinket - with its Vacheron Constantin clock face - matched the description exactly.
Cue a hurried trip to London and an extraordinary authentication. He had unknowingly rescued one of the 50 legendary Imperial Easter eggs crafted between 1885 and 1916 by Peter Carl Fabergé for the Russian royal family. This particular egg was the third made, and was given by Tsar Alexander III to his wife, the Tsarina Maria Feodorovna, for Easter 1887.
These eggs represented the height of luxury and craftsmanship, inextricably linked to the glory - and tragic fate - of the Romanovs. Ten eggs were produced during Alexander III’s reign. His son, Nicholas II, commissioned 40 more, presenting one each year to both his mother and his wife.
After authentication, the Third Imperial Egg was sold to a private collector for an estimated US$30 million - turning the savvy scrap metal buyer into an instant millionaire.
The rediscovery of the Third Imperial Egg is a reminder that real treasures are still out there - hidden among the clutter of second-hand shops and forgotten family collections. It’s the ultimate Easter egg hunt for grown-ups: proof that the next incredible find could be sitting quietly on a kitchen counter somewhere, just waiting for a curious eye.
