Rare Imperial Fabergé Egg Sells for Record £22.9 Million in London

A historic Fabergé egg, created for Russia's last tsar, has sold for a record £22.9 million at a London auction. The sale sets a new global price for any work by the famed Russian jeweler, Fabergé. The object is known as the "Imperial Winter Egg." Tsar Nicholas II commissioned it in 1913 as an Easter gift for his mother, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. The egg is decorated with 4,500 diamonds. Its design mimics frost patterns on rock crystal. The piece also features a platinum basket of wood anemone flowers, a symbol of impending spring. The auction house, Christie's, announced the sale on Wednesday. The winning bidder's identity remains confidential. The egg was last sold at auction in 1994 for just over $5 million.