News

Faberge Egg Reunited with Missing Surprise Elephant After 80 Years

These two incredibly valuable pieces of historic jewelry were once part of a set. A bejeweled Faberge Egg, called the Diamond Trellis because of the intersecting lines of diamonds all across its body, once contained this so-called surprise elephant, a jewel-encrusted automaton that would walk when it was wound up. The egg and elephant were given as a gift from Russian czar Alexander III to his wife Maria Feodorovna on Easter of 1892, but the two items were separated when they were sold off by the Bolsheviks after the Russian Revolution. The Museum of Natural Science in Houston, Texas is the unlikely site of the reunion between these two rare pieces of jewelry. The Diamond Trellis, created under the watchful eye of legendary jewel master Peter Carl Faberge, belongs to American oil tycoon Artie McFerrin, while the surprise elephant, which was custom designed to fit inside the egg, was found only last year in the Royal Collection of the Queen of England. Both pieces will continue to be on display for about a year at the Museum before returning to their respective collections.