This is a gold, enamel, and zircon egg that I bought in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 2005, on a plain Tiffany gold chain. The egg, by itself, cost 280 pounds. Scroll down for pics of it layered with a Tiffany DBTY (going to post those in a sec.)
I can see the egg's Russian hallmarks with a x30 loupe. Like most Russian jewellery, the egg has a kokoshik mark - a woman in profile facing right. The image is very detailed - she has a headdress, (a kokoshik), long hair, dangly earrings...looks like she's ready for a date! The pendant also carries the 585 for 14k gold....but weirdly, is also stamped 999 for almost-pure gold. Then, there is a mark to the left of the lady's head showing where in Russia it was made, but I can't match the symbol to a city from my online research. Also, there is a Russian word. This thing is hallmarked up to the nines...I like it, it's exotic...
However, I have rarely worn the egg. I lost it for a long time, and then found it almost a year later in a handbag pocket. It had tarnished, and I had never had a suitable chain for it. But it's beautiful, and it never saw the light of day....
.....SO, this week I decided that the egg's time to shine has come! I put it in my new ultrasonic cleaner and gave it a good going-over, more than once. I then decided that a pale gold chain would set it off best. I went to my local jeweller but all their chains were quite yellow and super-sparkly, which competed with the egg. So off I trotted to Tiffany, and I got one of the Elsa Peretti chains that they use in the DBTY range. These chains are non-sparkly and pale yellow, so they do not compete with the pendant. It was the perfect match, and only $35 more than the other jeweller.
I am now having fun showing this baby off with V-neck navy or black sweaters!
I can see the egg's Russian hallmarks with a x30 loupe. Like most Russian jewellery, the egg has a kokoshik mark - a woman in profile facing right. The image is very detailed - she has a headdress, (a kokoshik), long hair, dangly earrings...looks like she's ready for a date! The pendant also carries the 585 for 14k gold....but weirdly, is also stamped 999 for almost-pure gold. Then, there is a mark to the left of the lady's head showing where in Russia it was made, but I can't match the symbol to a city from my online research. Also, there is a Russian word. This thing is hallmarked up to the nines...I like it, it's exotic...
However, I have rarely worn the egg. I lost it for a long time, and then found it almost a year later in a handbag pocket. It had tarnished, and I had never had a suitable chain for it. But it's beautiful, and it never saw the light of day....
.....SO, this week I decided that the egg's time to shine has come! I put it in my new ultrasonic cleaner and gave it a good going-over, more than once. I then decided that a pale gold chain would set it off best. I went to my local jeweller but all their chains were quite yellow and super-sparkly, which competed with the egg. So off I trotted to Tiffany, and I got one of the Elsa Peretti chains that they use in the DBTY range. These chains are non-sparkly and pale yellow, so they do not compete with the pendant. It was the perfect match, and only $35 more than the other jeweller.
I am now having fun showing this baby off with V-neck navy or black sweaters!
One of my favorites of your collection!
Things will be different now though, after the ultrasonic cleaning and the spanking new posh chain!
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