Fabergé Friday

And the last egg - for this year - is......Imperial Egg number twelve: The "Twelve Monograms" (or the "Silver Anniversary Egg), from 1895!

As you might remember, last Friday's egg was from 1895 too! This was because after Tsar Alexander III died, his son, Tsar Nicholas II, then continued the tradition by giving a Fabergé egg to both Alexander's widow and his own wife. So from now on Fabergé had to create two Imperial Easter Eggs each year!

This golden egg is covered in blue enamel in the "champlevé" technique - meaning that areas for the enamel were cut out of the gold, leaving thin red gold ribs that form the foliate design. 

The egg is divided into six panels, separated by rows of diamonds. The upper panels contains the dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna's monogram, set and crowned in diamonds, and the bottom panels are set with Alexander III's monogram. A fitting memory of her late husband.

The egg opens up, to reveal a velvet lining, and the surprise - which is now lost. The picture above is just a replica.

This egg is now held in the Hillwood Museum in Washington D.C. as part of the Marjorie Merriweather Post Collection.