Where are the known imperial Fabergé eggs currently located or displayed?
Executive summary
Forty‑three of the Imperial Fabergé eggs made for the Russian imperial family are reported surviving, with many held by museums and only a handful in private hands; recent reporting notes the Winter Egg sold at Christie’s London in December 2025 for £22.9 million (about $30.2m) and that seven Imperial eggs remain privately owned [1] [2] [3]. Available sources give examples of museum locations (e.g., Virginia Museum of Fine Arts) and the auction location (Christie’s London) but do not provide a single, complete, up‑to‑date list of where every known Imperial egg is displayed [4] [5].
1. What “Imperial” Fabergé eggs are and how many survive
The term “Imperial” refers to the eggs Fabergé made as Easter presents for Tsars Alexander III and Nicholas II for members of the Romanov family; the House of Fabergé produced about 50 such imperial eggs between 1885 and 1917, and modern counts put surviving imperial eggs at 43 [1]. Reporting consistently emphasizes scarcity and the high collectible value that results from that small surviving group [3] [5].
2. Who owns them — museums vs. private collectors
Most surviving imperial eggs are held by public collections and museums; a minority remain in private hands. Recent auction coverage around the Winter Egg states there are seven imperial eggs still privately owned, underscoring how rare it is for one to appear on the market [2] [3]. The Winter Egg itself was consigned to Christie’s London for sale during Classic Week in early December 2025 and sold there to an unnamed buyer [5] [6].
3. Examples of public collections that display Imperial eggs
Journalistic and specialist accounts point to specific institutions known to exhibit notable eggs: the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is cited as displaying a selection including the Imperial Rock, the 1915 Red Cross, the 1912 Tsarevich, the Imperial Pelican and the 1903 Peter the Great [4]. Coverage also repeatedly notes that “most” of the 43 surviving imperial eggs are in museums, though individual institutional holdings are dispersed internationally [3] [1].
4. The Winter Egg: recent provenance and auction location
The Winter Egg, commissioned in 1913 by Nicholas II for his mother, was publicly displayed at Christie’s auction rooms in London ahead of the December 2, 2025 sale; Christie’s estimated it would fetch “in excess of” £20 million and it sold for £22.9 million with fees — a new auction record for a Fabergé work [5] [6] [7]. Reporting notes the Winter Egg had been in private hands and is one of the few imperial eggs to change ownership publicly in recent decades [2] [3].
5. Why there’s no single authoritative, current public list in these sources
Available reporting and reference material in the provided set summarize counts, ownership patterns and notable examples, but they do not publish a comprehensive, up‑to‑date catalogue mapping each surviving imperial egg to a single current location. The Wikipedia summary gives the survivor count but not an itemized, current locations list, and news stories focus on headline eggs (e.g., Winter Egg) and examples of museum holdings [1] [3] [4]. Therefore, a complete per‑egg disposition is not found in current reporting [1] [4].
6. Competing perspectives and reporting emphases
Auction houses and specialist dealers emphasize rarity and record prices to frame market interest — Christie’s and Reuters highlight the Winter Egg’s estimate and sale as a rarity in private hands [5]. Museums and cultural writers emphasize artistic and historical context, citing collections like the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts as stewards of multiple imperial eggs [4]. News outlets vary in tone: some present the sale as a market milestone (CNN, Reuters), others emphasize the Winter Egg’s craftsmanship and provenance (Forbes, The Jewellery Editor) [2] [5] [8] [4].
7. What to do if you need a full, itemized list
Available sources do not supply an exhaustive, current, per‑egg location list. For a verified catalogue you must consult specialized Fabergé catalogues, museum collection databases, or consolidated provenance records from major institutions and auction houses; those primary references are not included among the provided search results (not found in current reporting). Reporters and curators typically assemble such lists from provenance research, loan records and museum catalogues.
Limitations: this briefing uses only the supplied news and reference items; it synthesizes counts, examples and a recent high‑profile sale, but the sources do not list every Imperial egg’s present home, so no complete per‑egg roster is asserted here [1] [2] [4].