A Fabergé egg may have been discovered on a yacht seized from a Russian oligarch, said US Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco on Wednesday at the annual Aspen Security Forum in Colorado. Before the Bolshevik Revolution, the Romanovs preferred Fabergé items as gifts, and revelations about them always enrage the art world. The absence of a photograph of the egg has heightened speculation.
Monaco stated that federal officials were focused on "pursuing and exposing the incredible corruption that has propped up Putin's war machine" and "enabling the unprovoked and truly horrifying aggression in Ukraine." She then moved on to one of the most high-profile seizures, the $300 million, 350-foot Amadea yacht owned by Russian billionaire Suleiman Kerimov, which was seized in Fiji in May at the request of the US Department of Justice as part of Task Force KleptoCapture, which targets Russian oligarchs. Following a June ruling by the island nation's Supreme Court, it was transported to San Diego.
Œuf au treillis de roses, Walters Art Gallery, États-Unis
"Let's get to the good stuff, the yachts," Monaco said to the Aspen crowd. She stated that US officials are requesting Congressional authorization and "working with our law enforcement counterparts around the world to conduct searches on these yachts" in order for them to be seized and the proceeds donated to Ukrainian refugees.
"We've been finding really interesting things," she said, referring to "a Fabergé, or alleged Fabergé egg" discovered on the yacht now docked in San Diego, "so it just gets more and more interesting."
Kerimov, 56, is a gold magnate and Russian senator who is worth $13.1 billion with his family, according to Forbes. He is a Dagestani native who has been sanctioned by the United States since 2018. The Panama Papers linked him to cellist Sergei Roldugin, dubbed "Putin's wallet." Kerimov was not the owner of the investment company in whose name the Amadea was registered. He was previously best known for a fiery crash in a $650,000 Ferrari in Nice in 2006, which left him seriously injured with Russian television anchor Tina Kandelaki by his side.
According to Tony Faber, author of the book Fabergé's Eggs (2008), "I think the chances of it being real are pretty slim." That is, there are only 50 of these eggs made, and they are fantastic, you know, these wonderful examples of creativity, luxury, and links to the decadent Romanovs and their court, but there are only 50 of them, and we know where 43 of them are. I don't believe it's one of those 43, so we're left with the seven missing people who have been missing since the revolution."
In 2014, one of the missing eggs was discovered inadvertently by a scrap metal dealer in the United States. Andre Ruzhnikov, a London-based Fabergé dealer who has waged a war against Russian Fabergé forgeries, said it is difficult to make any assessments without a photo, but Kerimov was not known as a collector. "There isn't a single Fabergé egg available on the market today," he said. "Imperial Fabergé eggs haven't been on the market in 18 years, since the collection was sold to [Viktor] Vekselberg in 2004." Malcolm Forbes' Fabergé collection was purchased by Vekselberg. "It might be a pendant egg worth a few thousand or an egg-shaped object like a bonbonniere or box, but the Imperial eggs worth tens of millions are all accounted for," said Nick Nicholson, a Russian art specialist and principal of Nicholson Art Advisory who has worked with Fabergé pieces.
Selena Mattei