A scrap dealer paid $13,302 for a gold egg at a flea market, planning to melt it for profit. Nobody wanted it. It sat in his kitchen for years. Then he Googled the name engraved inside. It was a lost Imperial Faberge egg made for Tsar Alexander III. Estimated value: $33 million.
A Scrap Dealer Bought a $13,000 Gold Egg to Melt. It Was a Lost Faberge Egg Worth $33 Million.
A scrap metal dealer bought an ornate gold egg at a flea market for $13,302, hoping to melt it down. Nobody wanted it, so it sat on his kitchen counter for years.
Then he Googled the name engraved inside: Vacheron Constantin. It led him to Kieran McCarthy, a Faberge expert at Wartski in London.
The egg was the Third Imperial Easter Egg, made for Tsar Alexander III in 1887. Only three of the original 50 Imperial eggs remain unaccounted for. In 2014, it was sold to a private collector for an estimated $33 million.
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Verified Fact
Confirmed via Reuters, NBC News. Third Imperial Egg. $33M is expert estimate, actual sale price undisclosed.
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