A Russian billionaire just spent $100 million on nine eggs. Here's why.
Stephen Smith explores the extraordinary life and work of the virtuoso jeweller Carl Faberge. He talks to HRH Prince Michael of Kent about Faberge items in the Royal Collection and to Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, who spent $100 million acquiring nine exquisite Faberge eggs. The bejewelled trinkets Faberge made for the last tsars of Russia in the twilight of their rule have become some of the most sought-after treasures in the world, sometimes worth millions. Smith follows in Faberge's footsteps, from the legendary Green Vaults in Dresden to the palaces of the tsars and the corridors of the Kremlin museum, as he discovers how this fin de siecle genius transformed his father's modest business into the world's most famous supplier of luxury items.
Cinematography
Linger shots on eggs that'll make you drool.
Production
Access to royal collections and Kremlin vaults.
Director
Spike Geilinger
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Of 50 Imperial eggs made, 43 survive; eight are still missing and occasionally turn up in American flea markets.
Vekselberg's 2004 purchase from the Forbes family briefly made these Russian national treasures before Western sanctions complicated ownership.
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