Flea Marketing Justified !!!!!
Did you happen to catch NBC yesterday - the story
that featured the flea market Find Of The Century?
I've never posted an online article verbatim but today is a rare exception:
Scrap Dealer's Bargain Turns Out to Be Faberge Egg
There is good luck, outrageous good fortune — and now there is the case of the scrap metal dealer who found one of the eight missing Faberge imperial eggs at a flea market in the American Midwest.
A London antique dealer said Wednesday that that the scrap metal entrepreneur bought the egg for about $14,000, thinking he could make a small profit by reselling the piece for its gold content.
It turned out the jewel-encrusted piece was worth millions.
Kieran McCarthy of Wartski, which specializes in Russian artifacts, said the scrap metal dealer began to suspect he was holding a rare piece after seeing an article online about an imperial Faberge Easter egg made for Russian royalty.
The dealer contacted McCarthy, who verified the egg as genuine and negotiated its sale to a collector.
"The second I saw it, my spine was shivering," said McCarthy, calling the piece a "Holy Grail" for collectors.
Both buyer and seller want to remain anonymous, and McCarthy did not disclose the sale price — but experts note that a non-imperial Faberge egg sold at Christie's for $18.5 million in 2007.
Independent Faberge expert Geza von Habsburg said the egg is "absolutely genuine" and matches the one-line description found in records kept by Russia's Imperial Cabinet.
The egg, which contains a Vacheron Constantin watch, sits on a jeweled gold stand and was given by Alexander III to his wife Empress Maria Feodorovna for Easter 1887.
Only 50 of the imperial eggs were made for the royal family, and eight remained missing before the latest find, though only three of those are known to have survived the Russian revolution.
I did see this on the news last night! How amazing that it turned up at a flea market! I guess that is why we are always searching those flea market booths and dusty antique shop corners.....How exciting to have this rare artifact turn up. I just saw 'The Monuments Men' at the movies with George Clooney about a special task force formed during WWII to recover stolen art - a good movie - and an eye opening insight into what is lost during wars and revolutions. So exciting that this was found. - Happy Spring! xo Karen
ReplyDeleteThe Monuments Men is on my To-See list, it sounds fascinating. Can't wait to see the new Noah movie, too. Hope you have a great weekend!
DeleteI always feel for the poor person who sold this in the first place. Mind you they probably thought all their Christmas's had come at once if he really paid $14,000 for the egg.
ReplyDeleteWish I could find a golden egg! How exciting would it be? Not just for the money but the stories that egg could tell. How on earth did it end up at a flea market in the American mid west??
Thanks for sharing
Lush
It's the excitement of the hunt, isn't it? I LOVE flea marketing, even more than thrift shopping. There seem to be fewer and fewer big, juicy flea markets but you can still occasionally find treasures at the small ones.
DeleteCan you imagine...thud!
ReplyDeleteTo me, finding a Faberge egg is like winning the Lotto - we can dream, can't we?!
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