Faberge Egg fetches record breaking $18.5 mil at London auction

The exquisitely formed and first commissioned by Russian Czar Alexander III commissioned elaborate egg from craftsman Peter Carl Faberge as an Easter gift for his wife, Empress Maria Fedorovnahas has fetched the record breaking princely sum of $18.5 million at a London auction Wednesday. The rare enamel-and-gold Faberge egg had been a keepsake for the Rothschild banking family for more than a century. The Rothschild Faberge Egg is one of no more than 12 such pieces known to have been made to imperial standards for private clients, Christie's said.

The Faberge Egg which is a translucent pink egg topped with a diamond-studded cockerel is also now famous for breaking the previous record for a Faberge work of art, Christie's auction house said. The price also broke the record for Russian artwork, excluding paintings, easily beating the $9.6 million paid for a Faberge egg in New York in 2002, Christie's said.