Fabergé figure found in family attic sells for record $5.2 million

A tiny figurine connected to Russia’s last imperial family spent nearly eight decades hidden from public view before emerging from a New York attic and selling for $5.2 million at auction. The hardstone figure, created by the Fabergé workshop in 1912, depicts Nikolai N. Pustynnikov, a personal Cossack bodyguard to Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, wife of Emperor Nicholas II. It was discovered in 2013 in an attic in Rhinebeck, New York, decades after it had been purchased by an American collector in 1934.When the seven-inch figure was finally offered at Stair Galleries in Hudson, New York, on October 26, 2013, it had an estimated value of between $500,000 and $800,000. After around 15 minutes of intense bidding, however, the hammer price reached $5.2 million, setting a record for a Fabergé hardstone figure at auction at the time.