OMGOMG Fabergé Chicken Egg!!1

[livius drusus]

It was privately commissioned by the Rothschilds (http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23414943-details/Absolutely+Faberg%C3%A9.../article.do) in 1902 and they didn't brag about it so nobody else knew it existed.

The egg contains a diamond-set cockerel which pops up and flaps its wings, nods its head and crows every hour.

There are no more than 12 recorded examples of eggs created by the Fabergé workshop for private clients to the same standards as those commissioned by the Russian royal family. This piece is one of only three made with a clock and automation.

Christie's will be auctioning it off for unspeakable amounts in November. Which means y'all have plenty of time to get it to me for Secret Santa. :pleased:

I am for you, livius of drusus
http://i.thisislondon.co.uk/i/pix/2007/10/11a_04_faberge2_415x546.jpg

[Uthgar the Brazen]

Hmm, I think I'd rather have Famke Janssen, and I'm all fruity! :yup:

[Legs]

Such craftmanship, I love the little tiny set pearls. It's a beauty liv, I hope someone springs for it.

[livius drusus]

I think I'd rather have Famke Janssen, and I'm all fruity! :yup:
You're choosing the babe over the cock?! I'ma tell the gay secretariat and get you stricken from the agenda.

[Uthgar the Brazen]

I can trade her in for a handful of twinks, and that cock's probably only got one use in him anyway. :P

[wei yau]

Hey! I have one of those! Found it when we were cleaning out the grandparents' basement. I had no idea that this chintzy-looking thing was so valuable.

Wait, let me check it out....oh nevermind, it's just an empty Silly Putty egg.

Still, I'm gonna paint a chicken on it and put it up on eBay.

[livius drusus]

Such craftmanship, I love the little tiny set pearls. It's a beauty liv, I hope someone springs for it.
Isn't it a marvel? My favorite part is the enameling on the cockerel. Enamel is so underused these days.

I hope someone who allows its display springs for it. There are so few of them out there, it would be great if this one were publically viewable. :wish:

[LadyShea]

Just had to post that dincha? I'm getting all comfy living a simple life then you have to get me slobbering for intricate, expensive pretties.

Truly is a gorgeous piece!

[livius drusus]

Hey! I have one of those! Found it when we were cleaning out the grandparents' basement. I had no idea that this chintzy-looking thing was so valuable.

Wait, let me check it out....oh nevermind, it's just an empty Silly Putty egg.

Still, I'm gonna paint a chicken on it and put it up on eBay.
Don't forget to set the Buy It Now to $18 million.

[Uthgar the Brazen]

...the But It Now...

:spew:

[wei yau]

If you've seen the aforementioned "but", you'd think $18 mil. is a steal.

[livius drusus]

Just had to post that dincha? I'm getting all comfy living a simple life then you have to get me slobbering for intricate, expensive pretties.
Hey, it's what I do. :muahaha:

[livius drusus]

...the But It Now...

:spew:
:glare:

If you've seen the aforementioned "but", you'd think $18 mil. is a steal.
:rofl:

[InTheServiceOfZeke]

beautiful.

[Leesifer]

Lovely!

Best make me your secret santa, liv. I know where Christie's is and I can surely rob them of bid for the egg.

[Sock Puppet]

Okay, now we simply MUST have a Bleeding Gums Murphy smiley.

"I'll have another Faberge egg, please."
"Sir, don't you think you've had enough?"
"I TELL YOU WHEN I HAD ENOUGH!!!"

[ChuckF]

Wow! It's astounding! liv, if for some reason my AmEx is declined at Christie's, I could always just make you an egg à la Fabergé for Christmas. I mean, how hard could it be?

This got me into reading about the the House of Fabergé on Wikipedia (where I corrected a rather bad factual error), and then onto the Rothschild family. Suddenly, it's an hour later. I have a history of the Rothschilds I really want to read now.

[Ensign Steve]

Okay, what was the error? :popcorn:

[ChuckF]

So the original name was Favri, and by the time the family got to Russia, it had become "Faberge." Gustav Faberge, Carl's father, named the new firm "Fabergé," with the accent. Someone suggested that he changed the name because the Russian 'g' is pronounced 'jay,' which is never, ever true. Even if it was, it doesn't make much sense. Rather, it was because the Petersburg nobility spoke French (the very high nobility were almost all natively bilingual - they all had French governesses and French tutors) and a more French name would appeal to their sense of luxury.

Also, I suspect because it has some resonance with the word "fabriqué," or "made," but that's pure speculation so I didn't add it.

[viscousmemories]

You didn't add something to Wikipedia 'cause it's pure speculation?

[livius drusus]

Wow! It's astounding! liv, if for some reason my AmEx is declined at Christie's, I could always just make you an egg à la Fabergé for Christmas. I mean, how hard could it be?
Oo! Oo! Will it be a bobble-head Fabergégg? :hyper:

This got me into reading about the the House of Fabergé on Wikipedia (where I corrected a rather bad factual error), and then onto the Rothschild family. Suddenly, it's an hour later. I have a history of the Rothschilds I really want to read now.
I love it when that happens. :pleased:

Thank you for the mini history lesson, btw. I really didn't know anything about Fabergé. In fact, I kinda thought he was French. :blush:

[ChuckF]

You didn't add something to Wikipedia 'cause it's pure speculation?
:giggle: No! I am a conscientious Wikipedia editor. When high school students plagiarize me, I want it to be accurate, dammit.

Thank you for the mini history lesson, btw. I really didn't know anything about Fabergé. In fact, I kinda thought he was French. :blush:
The family was of Hugenot origin. Edict of Fontainebleau, etc., Hugenots leave. 150 years later, after roaming around Europe for a while, they set up shop in St. Petersburg.

[livius drusus]

Wow. That fambly has been involved in more than a few bloody maelstroms. So Favri is a French Hugenot name?

[ChuckF]

I suspect so. It looks an awful lot like Favre (like Brett Favre), which was a regional variant of Fabre. Back in the day, it meant "blacksmith," and survives to day as the French forger and English forge. Same root as fabricate. Latin faber. If we go even further back, we get to the Indo-European dhabh meaning "to fit together."

How appropriate! That resonance with fabriquer is not coincidental.

By the way, the Indo-European dhabh is also the root of daft and deft. Daft originally meant "suited, or gentle" and evolved into its current meaning.

This post made possible by Joseph T. Shipley's The Origins of English Words: A Discursive Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

[livius drusus]

Ah yes, of course. "Fabbro" is Italian for blacksmith.

You know stuff. Cool. :thumbup:

[ChuckF]

I's can be on jepperdy nao?

[livius drusus]

Totallies!

[vremya]

:omg:

DO WANT!

[livius drusus]

MINES! I SAW FIRST!1

[vremya]

NO!!1! MINES!!!1

[livius drusus]

:cryhome:

[mickthinks]

Am I the only one who thinks it actually looks rather tacky and tasteless?

[maddog]

:hatch::eastegg::yolk:

That egg is not all it's cracked up to be?

:couch::heckled::duck::runaway::angrymob::chase:

#1386

[Adora]

I admire the skill it takes to make such things, but I still think they're ugly and kitsch (if so in a terribly classic-Baroque-kitsch kind of way).

[Ensign Steve]

Oh, man, I love terriibly classic-Baroque-kitsch! I went to a Louis XIV exhibit (or was it XVI?) at the Getty Center last year, and I was like, "If I was this rich, this is exactly the stuff I would have, too!" He was like the Elvis Presley of his time.

[Adora]

If you've got it, flaunt it.

At least until they cut your head off.

[Brimshack]

Wow. That fambly has been involved in more than a few bloody maelstroms. So Favri is a French Hugenot name?

Liv, I don't know why, but for some reason I just feel soe much closer to you after reading this thread.

[livius drusus]

:iseewhatyoudid:

[livius drusus]

Update: The chicken egg sold for a record $16.5 million (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=aKbQV1ZgI44A&refer=home).

[ChuckF]

A Secret Santa bargain at twice the price, wouldn't you say, Sedgwick?
Quite!
:aristea:

[livius drusus]

:hellyes:

Thank you, Santa! Don't forget to insure it with UPS. :wriggle:

[mickthinks]

According to Forbes, Russia has at least 60 U.S. dollar billionaires.
An obscene truth hiding behind the crazy headline?

Mick

[Caligulette]

Am I the only one who thinks it actually looks rather tacky and tasteless?

No. You are not the only one.

I went, a number of years ago, to an exhibit at the deYoung museum in SF of the treasures of the Romanovs. Chock-a-block with this kind of ostentatious and tacky crap.

I think in many cases the work of Faberge is a textbook example of "Just because you can, does not mean you should". Overwought and gloppy much of the time.

[Ensign Steve]

I watched Marie Antoinette last night. God I hate Sofia Coppola so much!

[Smilin]

Am I the only one who thinks it actually looks rather tacky and tasteless?

No. You are not the only one.

I went, a number of years ago, to an exhibit at the deYoung museum in SF of the treasures of the Romanovs. Chock-a-block with this kind of ostentatious and tacky crap.

I think in many cases the work of Faberge is a textbook example of "Just because you can, does not mean you should". Overwought and gloppy much of the time.


Looks :biker2: to me, but what the hell do I know? :lolwat:

[Caligulette]

Looks :biker2: to me, but what the hell do I know? :lolwat:
Looks like a Village Person to you? What?

[Shake]

There were a bunch of these eggs on display one time when I visited the Biltmore Estate (http://www.biltmore.com/). It was a little amazing to be in one room with all that wealth in it. But then, the whole estate is something like that. Cameras were not allowed inside, so alas, no pics.

[Corona688]

:iseewhatyoudid: Too dark. You might as well have stuck with teh :glare:

[livius drusus]

:iswydt: