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In 1885 Czar Alexander III instructed the House of Faberge to create an egg crafted out of gold and precious stones as an Easter present to his wife Maria Feodorovna. Tsarina Maria was so thrilled with the gift that her husband placed a standing order with the House of Faberge for a similar present for his wife every Easter. The Faberge team had complete freedom for the design of the Imperial Easter Eggs. The only restrictions set by the Tsar were that the egg ought to be different every year, and there should always be a surprise in it.
After Alexander III's death in 1894, his son, Nicholas II, instructed Faberge to build Easter Eggs for both his mother and his wife. The Imperial Easter Eggs became so famous that several individuals had commissioned the House of Faberge to build such precious gifts.
During the Russian Revolution, the imperial palaces were plundered and the Faberge eggs gathered with Lenin's orders in St. Petersburg and later some of them were sold abroad. Of the 50 Imperial Easter eggs crafted by the House of Faberge, we only know of the whereabouts of only 43. The remaining 7 are thought to have been lost or destroyed during the October Revolution. A large number of Faberge eggs, both imperial and those built for private individuals are now exhibited at the Faberge Museum in St. Petersburg and other museums in Russia.
The first Easter Faberge egg crafted by Faberge is the First Hen. It was presented to Tsarina Maria Feodorovna by her husband Tsar Alexander III in 1885 as a gift for the 20th anniversary of their betrothal.
The egg, which is white with white enamel to resemble a real egg, opens to reveal a golden "yolk". Inside the yolk is a gold hen which opened to reveal a diamond and gold crown that contained a ruby pendant. The crown and the pendant are now missing, but the First Hen Faberge egg is part of the permanent collection of the Faberge Museum in St. Petersburg.
The Diamond Trellis Faberge Egg was created in 1892 by August Holstrom under the supervision of Peter Carl Faberge and was the Easter gift of Tsar Alexander III to his wife Tsarina Maria Feodorovna. The egg is made of gold, jade, and diamond. The egg opened to reveal an ivory elephant, which was considered for decades to be lost but was discovered in 2015 in the British Royal Collection, where it still remains. The Diamond Trellis Faberge egg belongs to a private collection.
The Imperial Coronation Faberge Egg was the 1897 gift for the new Tsarina of Russia, Alexandra Fiodorovna, a year after the imperial couple's enthronement in 1896. The egg is made of gold and is adorned with diamonds, while the surprise inside is a copy of the 18th-century imperial carriage that carried Tsarina Alexandra to the cathedral for her enthronement and was made of gold, platinum, diamonds, enamel and other valuable materials. Inside the chariot was a necklace made of emeralds or diamonds, which is now lost. Today the Imperial Coronation Faberge Egg is part of the permanent collection of the Faberge Museum in St. Petersburg.
In 2015, the owners of the Faberge trademark crafted a new "imperial" egg, the first after about 100 years. It consists of 139 pearls, 3,305 diamonds, white and yellow gold, and other precious materials. The egg opens to reveal a rare 12.17-carat pearl found in the Persian Gulf. The initial estimate of Faberge Pearl Egg was $ 2 million.