The attic of George and Betty Davis held an amazing secret. Forgotten in a corner a group of executors found a rare Faberge figure that recently sold at auction for $5.2 million. An unassuming wooden box held a hardstone portrait figure of Nikolai Nikolaievich Pustynnikov, who was a personal Cossack bodyguard to Empress Alexandra Feodorovna during the reign of the Czars in Russia.
This figure has elegant “little sapphires in the eyes, painted gold trim, gold braid, and inlayed enameled double-headed imperial eagles."
Tsar Nicholas II commissioned the famed artisans to produce the figure for his wife, Empress Alexandra in 1912, only a short time before the revolution that led to the fall of the Romanov family.
Just 50 figures were known to have been carved by Faberge; the rarity of such figures is close to that of the Imperial Easter Eggs.
A bill of sale shows that the figure was acquired by famed collector Armand Hammer and then in December 1934 the antique was sold to Mr. George Davis for $2250. Recently, this was purchased at an auction by U.K. based Wartski Jewelers for a total price of $5,980,000 (including auction fees).
How many decades this figure was boxed and forgotten in an attic is unknown. How many amazing treasures are lying forgotten in attics and garages is unknown but their value must run into the billions of dollars……
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/oddnews/figurine-found-in-attic-sells-for--5-million-214652285.html;_ylt=A2KLOzJeOXlSqFUAQaDQtDMD
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