A scrap metal vendor who almost melted down a Faberge egg found the rare antique was worth over 3 million dollars after reading an article online.
The dealer, whose identity has not yet been released, first saw the egg over 10 years ago at an antique fair in the American Midwest with a $14,000 price tag. He had intentions to sell it to a buyer who could melt it down for a few hundred bucks, but some prospective vendors said the dealer had overshot the egg's worth, and turned him away.
He stashed the egg in his kitchen for years until one day two years ago, when he searched "egg" and "Vacheron Constantin" - a name carved into the piece - on Google.
He then found a Telegraph article posted in 2011 titled, "Is this 20 million pound nest-egg on your mantelpiece?" and called the Faberge expert identified in the feature, Wartski's jeweler Kieran McCarthy.
"He saw the article and recognized the egg in the picture," McCarthy told the Telegraph. "He flew straight over to London - the first time he had ever been to Europe - and came to see us. He hadn't slept for days. He brought pictures of the egg and I knew instantaneously that was it. I was flabbergasted - it was like being Indiana Jones and finding the Lost Ark."
McCarthy told the Telegraph that the egg was housed in a modest home in the Midwest, "next to a highway and a Dunkin' Donuts."
"There was the egg, next to some cupcakes on the kitchen counter," McCarthy stated.
He said the dealer "literally fell to the floor in astonishment" when he realized the egg was no phony.
According to the Telegraph, the egg was first designed by Carl Faberge for Tsar Alexander III. Bolsheviks reportedly seized the prized piece during the Russian Revolution.
The egg will be on display at Wartski's London flagship, April 14-17.
A different Faberge egg was sold at Christie's for $18.5 million in 2007.
