Forbeses flog Faberge nest-egg
2004-01-09 22:19
New York - The Forbes family is hoping to raise $90m (about R601m) by selling the world's finest private collection of imperial Faberge Easter eggs, collected for decades by publishing magnate Malcolm Forbes.
The stunning collection of nine eggs - second to the 10 housed in the Kremlin, but more than owned by Queen Elizabeth - will be auctioned by Sotheby's in New York in April.
Forbes, who died in 1990, began his obsessive acquisition of Faberge eggs after buying a House of Faberge gold cigarette lighter in 1960.
In a statement, the Forbes family said they had decided to auction the eggs in line with their father's wish that other collectors could experience the pleasure of getting and owning such unique pieces.
"Also the sale will allow each of us to pursue our own individual interests, something our family has always valued," said the Forbeses.
Faberge created a total of 50 imperial eggs between 1885 and 1916, but the whereabouts of only 42 eggs are known.
The brightest jewel in the Forbes collection is the spectacular Coronation Egg - valued at up to $24m (about R160m) -- which Tsar Nicholas II gave Empress Alexandra for Easter in 1897 to mark his ascension to the throne.
Speculation they're short of cash
Created of gold enamel mounted with a trelliswork of diamond-set imperial eagles, the egg opens to reveal a velvet-lined compartment containing a replica of the coach in which Alexandra made her grand entry into Moscow.
The auction comes after three years in which the Forbes family' chief holding, Forbes Magazine, has experienced a 50% drop in advertising pages, raising speculation that the family may be selling because it needs the cash.
The auction is timely, with interest in Faberge eggs riding extremely high at the moment.
One of the rarest pieces - the Winter Egg, studded with more than 3 000 diamonds - was sold at auction by Christie's in New York in April 2002, for a record $9.6m to an anonymous collector.
The eggs were first commissioned from Faberge by Tsar Alexander III in 1885 as Easter gifts for his wife, the Tsarina Maria Feodrovna.
180 other items of Forbes memorabilia
His son and successor, Tsar Nicholas II, later commissioned treasures for his own wife, Alexandra, and for his mother, the Dowager Empress, continuing an imperial Easter tradition which endured for more than 30 years.
As well as the eggs, the Sotheby's auction will include 180 other Faberge objects collected by Forbes, such as cigarette cases, photograph frames and precious stone carvings.
According to the New York Times, Sotheby's is believed to have given the Forbes family a guarantee - an undisclosed sum, regardless of the outcome of the sales - on four eggs.
Sotheby's employees said it totaled less than $50m.