Russian Billionaire Viktor Vekselberg Displays Fabergé Collection
There are few objects so rare as Fabergé eggs. The masterpiece of Russian jeweler Peter Carl Fabergé, only a limited number of these jeweled eggs was ever created. Indeed, only about 50 were ever made, including those gifted to Tsars Alexander III and Nicholas II.
After the Russian Revolution began in 1917, the eggs were scattered across the world. In 2004, Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg paid over $100 million to purchase nine eggs of the eggs. Today, Vekselberg’s collection is one of the largest in the world, second only to the Kremlin Armoury Museum’s collection of 10 eggs.
Now Vekselberg has put his collection on display in Saint Petersburg, returning the eggs to the city where Fabergé’s original workshop was located. Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev attended the opening ceremony at the Shuvalov Palace, located Saint Petersburg’s historic center.
The exhibition will be open to the public in December.
Photo credit: RIA Novosti via The Voice of Russia.
