This egg, from 1913, is made of carved rock crystal thin as glass - so thin the surprise is visible (albeit clouded). The egg is engraved with frost-flowers and ornamented with platinum and diamonds. The base is rock-crystal carved to resemble a block of melting ice.
The surprise, so suitable for Spring spreading across the country even where the land seems most winter-locked, is a platinum basket of flowers.
Resembling the early-Spring anemone blossoms, these are made from white quartz, nephrite, gold and green garnets, set in a bed of moss made of green gold.
With that materials list, it may not surprise anyone to learn this was the most expensive Imperial Egg of the lot, for all its apparent simplicity. It was an Easter gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his wife, Tsarina Maria Feodorovna.
References:
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs139/1102377331844/archive/1112504496737.html
http://www.faberge.com/news/49_imperial-eggs.aspx\
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/5f/46/35/5f4635fd9056ba68503e85782a49ca22.jpg
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