Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Argyle Library Egg

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The Argyle Library Egg (also known as The Argyle Library Egg by Kutchinsky) is a jewelled egg made of gold and diamonds. Commissioned by Argyle Diamonds of Perth, Australia and created in 1990 by Paul Kutchinsky, its design was inspired by the ornate jewelled eggs that the famous jeweller Peter Carl Fabergé created for the Russian royal family in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

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Craftsmanship

Standing more than 60 cm tall, the egg is fashioned from 15 kg of 18 carat gold sheets and is studded with 24,000 pink diamonds. Six master craftsmen labored a combined 7000 hours over ten months to complete the creation of the egg. Reportedly, Paul Kutchinsky individually hand selected each diamond used in the design. The completed egg was worth $11.5 million.

Surprise

Paying homage to Faberge's tradition of hiding a "surprise" inside each of his eggs, the Argyle Library Egg opened to reveal a rotating miniature library and portrait gallery. The egg had a complex electronic mechanism to pull back the shell and rotate the interior for display. The portrait gallery, containing five enameled frames, was based upon a design that Fabergé produced for the Russian tsars.

References

Argyle Library Egg Wikipedia