Where were the missing Imperial eggs last documented or photographed?
Executive summary
The last documented or photographed locations of several missing Imperial Fabergé eggs are a patchwork of early Soviet inventories, mid‑20th century London gallery exhibitions and a small number of later photographs that surfaced in private collections; specific eggs were last recorded in the Kremlin Armory inventories , shown at Wartski in London (1949–1952), or are known only from single, often blurry, historic photographs whose provenance is incomplete [1] [2] [3].
1. The Nécessaire Egg: a Wartski photograph and a 1952 sale
The Nécessaire — one of the missing Imperial eggs believed to have survived the revolution — was last shown in the West at Wartski’s Regent Street premises in 1949, and Wartski’s ledgers record a sale on 19 June 1952 to an anonymous buyer described only as “A Stranger,” making Wartski the last documented commercial location tied to that egg and the provenance anchor for the recent rediscovered photograph that renewed the hunt [2] [4].
2. Inventory entries: the Armory of the Kremlin as the last official record
Several of the missing eggs’ last formal documentation appears in Soviet inventories compiled after the revolution; for example, the “Hen with Sapphire Pendant” of 1886 and other Imperial pieces were explicitly recorded in the Armory of the Kremlin’s inventory in 1922, which serves as the last authoritative state listing for some eggs before dispersal or disappearance [1] [5].
3. Eggs known only from single historic photographs or blurred images
A handful of missing eggs — notably the 1888 “Cherub with Chariot,” the 1903 “Royal Danish,” and the 1909 “Alexander III Commemorative” — survive in the record primarily as single, grainy or solitary photographs and brief Fabergé or Imperial cabinet descriptions; these images are the only visual documentation researchers have to trace their later movement, and no later, verifiable photographic trail has been produced for them in the sources reviewed [3] [1].
4. The Third Imperial Egg: a modern rediscovery and photographic evidence in the U.S.
The previously lost Third Imperial provides the clearest modern example: it was identified in a private American setting after a scrap‑metal dealer nearly melted it down, photographed in situ on a Midwestern kitchen counter, authenticated by experts and exhibited by Wartski after its rediscovery, demonstrating that at least some “missing” eggs left Soviet inventories and resurfaced in private U.S. hands decades later [5] [6] [7].
5. Contemporary leads and contested sightings: seized yachts and unverified claims
In recent years U.S. authorities and media reported potential finds aboard impounded Russian superyachts, and officials said an alleged Fabergé was recovered from such vessels held in U.S. ports (reports linked to San Diego), but no widely published photographic confirmation tying those objects to specific missing Imperial eggs has appeared in the reporting provided, leaving those leads tantalizing but unresolved [8] [9].
6. What the documentation pattern reveals — and what it doesn’t
The documentary trail shows three recurring endpoints: official Soviet inventories (early 1920s), Western gallery or dealer exhibitions and sales (notably Wartski mid‑20th century), and isolated private photographs sometimes decades later; however, for many named missing eggs the last photographic evidence remains a single, low‑quality image or an inventory line, and the sources available do not provide definitive contemporary photographs placing those eggs after their 1920s listings [1] [2] [3]. Alternative views exist among independent Fabergé researchers who argue informal sales and unofficial export routes after 1922 scattered Imperial items into private collections worldwide — a hypothesis supported by cases like the Third Imperial’s U.S. reappearance but not uniformly provable for all missing eggs [10] [7].
7. Bottom line for investigators and collectors
For specific missing Imperial eggs: some were last officially documented in the Kremlin Armory inventories of the early 1920s (e.g., Hen with Sapphire Pendant), others were last publicly exhibited or sold via Wartski in London (e.g., the Nécessaire was shown in 1949 and sold in 1952), and a very small number are known only from single historic photographs with no later verifiable photographic trail; recent modern recoveries and seizure claims show plausible pathways into private hands but, based on the reporting reviewed, leave several eggs’ last photographed locations unresolved [1] [2] [5] [8].