Police in Auckland say they are waiting for nature to take its course after a man allegedly tried to smuggle a NZ$33,585 (about $19,000) Fabergé pendant out of a jewelry store by swallowing it.
Authorities say the 32-year-old, not publicly named, allegedly ate the ornate Fabergé octopus pendant at Partridge Jewelers on Nov. 28. He was arrested inside the store minutes after the incident and underwent a medical assessment while in custody. Inspector Grae Anderson said an officer is assigned to continuously monitor him and that, “at this stage the pendant has not been recovered.”
Charging documents seen by the Guardian show the man was charged on Nov. 29 with stealing the Fabergé x 007 Special Edition Octopussy Egg Surprise Locket, valued at NZ$33,585. He appeared in Auckland District Court the next day and did not enter a plea on the theft charge. He is due back in court on Dec. 8.
The piece is a limited-edition pendant inspired by the 1983 James Bond film Octopussy, in which a jewel-smuggling plot centers on a fake Fabergé egg. The store says only 50 of the eggs were made. The pendant is crafted from gold, painted green with enamel, set with 183 diamonds and two sapphires, and stands 8.4 centimeters (3.3 inches) tall on a stand. The egg opens to reveal an 18‑carat yellow gold octopus with white diamond “suckers” and black diamond eyes. Police quipped that time and digestion will determine whether there is another octopus surprise.
Inspector Anderson stressed the duty of care the police have while the man remains in custody given the circumstances.
In a separate story out of London, Christie’s sold a rare Fabergé Winter Egg at auction for a record 22.9 million pounds ($30.2 million). The 10-centimeter (4-inch) tall Winter Egg, made before the 1917 Russian revolution, is carved from rock crystal, decorated with a platinum snowflake motif set with about 4,500 tiny diamonds, and opens to reveal a removable basket of bejeweled quartz flowers symbolizing spring.
Commissioned in 1913 by Tsar Nicholas II for his mother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, the Winter Egg was one of two Fabergé eggs designed by Alma Pihl, a female designer; the other is owned by Britain’s royal family. After the revolution some imperial treasures were sold abroad. The Winter Egg was bought by a London dealer for 450 pounds in the 1920s, was believed lost for two decades, resurfaced at auction, and later set successive records: it sold at Christie’s in 1994 for more than 7 million Swiss francs and again in 2002 for $9.6 million.
Margo Oganesian, head of Christie’s Russian art department, called the Winter Egg the “Mona Lisa” of decorative arts and said the sale sets a new world auction record for a work by Fabergé, underscoring the piece’s technical and artistic brilliance. There are 43 surviving imperial Fabergé eggs, most held in museums.
Agence France-Presse contributed to this report.