The Winter Egg, one of Faberge's most dazzling creations, is due to be auctioned in London next week and set another sales price record for the legendary jeweller of Imperial Russia.

The egg, commissioned by Tsar Nicholas II in 1913 as an Easter gift to his mother, is expected to fetch at least £20 million ($26 million), according to Christie's auction house.

It is going under the hammer for the first time in more than two decades on Tuesday.

Carved in rock crystal, engraved on the interior with a frost design and sitting on a base made to look like melting ice, it boasts over 4,500 rose-cut diamonds set within platinum snowflake motifs and elsewhere.

"The Winter Egg is truly one of the rarest items that you can find," Margo Oganesian, of Christie's told AFP ahead of Tuesday's sale at

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