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The World's Most Beautiful Eggs: The Genius of Carl Faberge

Stephen Smith explores the life and work of the virtuoso jeweller Carl Faberge, who transformed his father's modest business into the world's most famous supplier of luxury items.

Stephen Smith explores the extraordinary life and work of the virtuoso jeweller Carl Faberge. He talks to HRH Prince Michael of Kent about Faberge items in the Royal Collection and to Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, who spent $100 million acquiring nine exquisite Faberge eggs. The bejewelled trinkets Faberge made for the last tsars of Russia in the twilight of their rule have become some of the most sought-after treasures in the world, sometimes worth millions.

Smith follows in Faberge's footsteps, from the legendary Green Vaults in Dresden to the palaces of the tsars and the corridors of the Kremlin museum, as he discovers how this fin-de-siecle genius transformed his father's modest business into the world's most famous supplier of luxury items.

59 minutes

Last on

Sat 13 Nov 2021 23:00

Music Played

  • Laurie Johnson

    West End

  • Hae-Won Chang, Camerata Cassovia, Robert Stankovsky, Helmut Muller-Bruhl

    Hannah and Her Sisters: Largo From Keyboard Concerto In F Minor

  • John Dankworth

    Tomorrow's World

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Stephen Smith
Director Spike Geilinger
Producer Spike Geilinger
Executive Producer Franny Moyle

Broadcasts

What would Carl Faberge make today?

Tatiana Faberge explores how her great-grandfather may have interpreted the modern world.