Miracles in Motion – Forbes.com

Clockwork Toys of Philosophers and Czars, Automata Retain their Power to Astonish.

In the Russia of Czar Nicholas II, no secret was more closely guarded than the surprises inside the precious eggs he gave to his wife and mother each Easter. Even Nicholas himself didn’t know in advance what was coming from Peter Carl Fabergé’s St. Petersburg shop. He simply expected to be astounded.

Fabergé’s craftsmen labored year-round to meet that directive. They once wrought a miniature gold palace, and another time a carriage with working suspension. Yet none of those baubles prepared the imperial family for 1908, when the Dowager… Read More