The Imperial Egg saved from being melted down for scrap.
THE Irish connection in the in the finding of a fabulous long lost Faberge egg in the American mid-west comes through Mayfair jeweller Wartski. Kieran McCarthy, a Faberge specialist and director of Wartski, is from west Kerry and clinched the deal to sell the egg while on holidays in his homeland. A scrap metal dealer bought the egg at a flea market in the American mid-west to be melted down for gold. He paid around $10,000 based on its weight and the estimated value of the diamonds and sapphires it contained. He intended to sell it to a buyer who would melt it down but prospective purchasers thought he had over-estimated the price and turned him down. The egg stayed in his kitchen for years until one night in 2012 he googled “egg” and “Vacheron Constantin”, the name etched on the timepiece inside. Up came an article from the Daily Telegraph featuring a picture of his egg and naming Mr. McCarthy as the expert. Never having been to Europe before he flew to London with a picture of the egg. Mr. McCarthy then flew to the US to verify the discovery.