Fancy Eggs

Carl Faberge's dazzling bejeweled eggs were an Easter tradition for the last Russian czars. Have you ever imagined making your own?

Nature's perfection is glorified by applying silver and gold leaf over brown eggs. Turkey & Chukar eggs and decorated in lavender and champagne-pink silver leaf, and chicken, pullet, turkey, and goose eggs wear vary shades of gold leaf.

An egg that would open to reveal surprise inside was Faberges idea for the Easter present Czar Alexander III gave to Czarina Marie Feodorovna in 1885. The jeweler kept the contents a secret from the couple until the white enamel egg was opened; within it, looking much like a hen's egg. was a golden yolk, and within the yolk was a golden hen. The other surprise, now lost in history, is said to have been a tiny replica of the Imperial Crown, with an egg-shaped ruby pendant inside. The couple was so, enchanted that they placed a standing order for an annual Easter egg.


Although the designs here can be fashioned by a committee or one or two, they are just as likely to initiate a cherished holiday tradition.