Fabergé egg found on Russian oligarch’s superyacht

If authentic, priceless jewelled egg created for Russian Imperial family could be one of few remaining in the world

A priceless Fabergé egg is thought to have been discovered on board a Russian oligarch’s superyacht seized by US officials (Associated Press)

A priceless Fabergé egg which could be one of the few remaining in the world is thought to have been discovered on board a Russian oligarch’s superyacht seized by US officials.

US deputy attorney general Lisa Monaco revealed the jewelled egg was one of the “interesting finds” her team had made after seizing a number of luxury vessels.

A celebrated series 50 Imperial Easter eggs was created for the Russian Imperial family from 1885 to 1916 by the jewellery firm House of Fabergé based in St Petersburg.

The first was commissioned by Tsar Alexander III as an Easter present for his wife, Maria Feodorovna.

Not all of the eggs survived and, if authentic, this find could be one of the few remaining in the world and worth millions of dollars.

Speaking to the Aspen security forum in Colorado on Wednesday, Ms Monaco said: “Let’s get to the juicy stuff: the yachts.

“We have seized a $90million yacht owned by a Russian oligarch that was floating off the coast of Majorca and it’s now in dry dock.

“We have seized a half billion dollar 300ft yacht also owned by an oligarch – we went all the way to Fiji to get that done.

US deputy attorney general Lisa Monaco revealed a rare Fabergé egg is thought to have been found on board a Russian oligarch’s superyacht seized by US officials (Aspen security forum)

“We’ve been finding really interesting things … we recovered a Fabergé - or alleged - Fabergé egg on one of these so it just gets more and more interesting.

“It is important I think to expose the corruption, to do everything we can to go after these ill-gotten gains, whether they’re in bank accounts here, whether they’re in the form of planes or yachts, you name it, to expose this corruption and to say that there’s no place that you can hide these ill-gotten gains and we’ll go to Fiji if we have to to get it back.”

Ms Monaco did not specify which yacht she was referring to, but she did say the yacht seized in Fiji was taken to San Diego, where it sits today.