Winter (Fabergé egg)
The Winter Egg is a Fabergé egg, one of a series of fifty-two jewelled Easter eggs created by Russian jeweler Peter Carl Fabergé. It was an Easter 1913 gift for Tsarina Maria Feodorovna from Tsar Nicholas II, who had a standing order of two Easter eggs every year, one for his mother and one for his wife. It was designed by Alma Pihl.
The price in 1913 was 24,700 rubles, the most expensive Easter egg ever made. The egg left Russia after the Revolution, and ended up in the collection of Brian Ledbrooke, Esq. It was first sold at auction in 1994 at Christie's in Geneva for $5.6 million, the world record at that time for a Fabergé item sold at auction. The egg sold for US$9.6 million in an auction at Christie's in New York City in 2002. The buyer was a Qatari Prince, Saud bin Muhammed Al Thani, the country's Minister of Culture from 1997 to 2005. As part of the Classics Week series of auctions by Christie's, the egg was sold at auction on 2 December 2025, for £22.9 million.