Theo - Faberge - Eggs - St. Petersburg Collection - Faberge Descendants - Objet d'art - Faberge History
Theo Fabergé created the GOLD RUSH EGG in tribute to the pioneers who came to California in the years following 1849. The California golden bear stands atop the egg as guardian over the images on the 18 karat gold shell. Hand-engraved scenes decorate the lid: a Clipper docking at San Francisco bears its cargo on the fore while on the reverse, a Conestoga wagon conveys prospectors westward – all “Forty-Niners” seeking their golden fortune.
Hand-worked red gold dimensional Sierra Nevada Mountains surround the egg’s center. At the mountain’s base flows the Sacramento River in white gold, a miner working its banks. To the reverse await a pair of hand-engraved scales ready to weigh the nuggets. Then in bronze, on the base shaft, a sifting-pan bears miniature pairs of pick-axe, shovel and woodman’s axes. The pedestal displays statues of the heroes of the Gold Rush: a prospector with his pack-mule; a business man striking a confident pose; and the dancing girl kicking her boots on bricks of 18 karat gold on the base’s cobbled street.
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