The VMFA holds the largest collection of Faberge eggs outside of Russia. In 1885, Tsar Alexander III commissioned the first imperial egg as a gift to his wife. She liked it so much he continued to bestow her with the gift of an egg each year, a tradition continued by his son Nicholas II.
“Youth fades; love droops; the leaves of friendship fall. A mother’s secret hope outlives them all.”—Oliver Wendell Holmes
