Fabergé Eggs: A Southern Socialite’s Dazzling Collection

In addition to fabulous jewelry and art, Marjorie Merriweather Post, the famed General Foods Corporation heiress and philanthropist, collected jaw-dropping Russian treasures created by the firm of Carl Fabergé. Beginning in 1927 with a Fabergé box she bought from Cartier, Post acquired dozens of Russian pieces—including rare Fabergé eggs—decorated with diamonds, rubies, and gold. Later in life, Post split time between her Palm Beach, Florida, home, Mar-a-Lago (you know the one) and her twenty-five-acre Hillwood estate in Washington, D.C., where she lived until her death in 1973. Hillwood is now a museum and garden dedicated to her legacy. Fabergé Rediscovered, a new exhibition at Hillwood (and book of the same name) shares nearly 100 of Post’s priceless pieces, on view now through January 13, 2019. Keep going for a sneak preview.

June 19, 2018

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Fabergé Twelve Monograms Egg, made of gold, enamel, diamonds, satin, 1896.

Photo: Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens / Photograph by Alex Braun

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Marjorie Merriweather Post showing her Fabergé table clock to guests at Hillwood, Washington, D.C., 1960s.

Photo: Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens Archives.

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Fabergé Catherine the Great Egg made of gold, diamonds, pearls, enamel, silver, platinum, 1914.

Photo: Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens / Photograph by Alex Braun

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Fabergé lipstick holder, made of silver gilt, enamel, 1908-1917.

Photo: Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens / Photograph by Bruce White

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Fabergé oval dish, made of silver, enamel, 1908-17.

Photo: Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens / Photograph by Alex Braun.

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Fabergé bell push, made of nephrite, gold, rubies, diamonds, 1886-98.

Photo: Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens / Photograph by Alex Braun

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Fabergé oval dish (kovsh), made of silver, bowenite, 1894.

Photo: Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens / Photograph by Alex Braun

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Fabergé oval dish, made of silver, silver gilt, enamel, 1899-1908.

Photo: Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens / Photograph by Alex Braun

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Fabergé table clock, made of silver, enamel, ivory, gold pearls, diamonds, 1898-1903.

Photo: Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens / Photograph by Bruce White

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Khlebnikov Easter egg, made of silver gilt, enamel, 1908-1917.

Photo: Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens / Photograph by Brian Searby

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Marjorie Merriweather Post’s bedroom at Hillwood, Washington, D.C., 1970s.

Photo: Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens Archives.

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Fabergé pin with Russian imperial eagle, made of gold, enamel, diamond, 1901.

Photo: Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens / Photograph by Bruce White

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Fabergé Regimental desk clock, made of white onyx, silver gilt, copper, gilt metal, glass, 1896.

Photo: Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens / Photograph by Alex Braun

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Fabergé frame with miniature painting of Marjorie Merriweather Post, ca. 1956.

Photo: Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens / Photograph by Edward Owen

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Fabergé leaf-shaped box, made of bloodstone, gold, diamonds, 1899-1908.

Photo: Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens / Photograph by Alex Braun

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Miniature of the monument to Peter the Great staged in the pavilion at Hillwood, 2017.

Photo: Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens / Photograph by Alex Braun

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Ovchinnikov teapot, made of silver, enamel, bone, 1875.

Photo: Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens / Photograph by Edward Owen

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Fabergé Rediscovered is published by D Giles Ltd. in association with Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens; available at the museum and your local and online booksellers.

CJ Lotz Diego is a Garden & Gun deputy editor. A staffer since 2013, she wrote G&G’s bestselling Bless Your Heart trivia game, edits the Due South travel section, and covers gardens, books, and art. Originally from Eureka, Missouri, she graduated from Indiana University and now lives in Charleston, South Carolina, where she tends a downtown pocket garden with her florist husband, Max.