Silver Two Ounces 2010 Fabergé - Clover Leaf Egg, Coin from Niue - detailed information

Niue, a sovereign state in free association with New Zealand, uses two official legal tender currencies. The New Zealand Dollar is the circulation currency for daily transactions, while the government also authorises legal tender coins in the Niue Dollar currency for collector's purposes.

A number of mints issue a large variety of commemorative, bullion and collector coins under the authority of Niue. These coins are dedicated to historical or general popular culture themes not related to Niue itself. Many of them are in standard bullion sizes - for example, two ounces of silver (abbreviated as 2 oz Ag, where "Ag" comes from the Latin word for silver, Argentum).

This coin is part of a series dedicated to the famous Fabergé eggs, and depicts the Clover Leaf Egg.

A Fabergé egg (Russian: Яйца Фаберже́) is a jewelled egg created by the House of Fabergé, in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire. Possibly as many as sixty-nine were created, of which fifty-seven survive today. Virtually all were manufactured under the supervision of Peter Carl Fabergé between 1885 and 1917, the most famous being the fifty-two "Imperial" eggs, forty-six of which survive, made for the Russian Tsars Alexander III and Nicholas II as Easter gifts for their wives and mothers. Thanks to the exuberance, intricacy and splendour of decoration, Fabergé Eggs have gained a huge popularity as jewellery masterpieces.

The Clover Leaf Egg was made in 1902 for Tsar Nicholas II and was presented as an Easter gift to his wife, the Tsarina Alexandra Fyodorovna. It is currently held in the Kremlin Armoury Museum in Moscow, and it is one of the few Fabergé eggs that have never left Russia. The Clover Leaf Egg is made of an openwork pattern of stems and leaves of clover forming the shape of an egg. The gaps between the metal outline of the leaves are covered with transparent bright green enamel. A very thin golden ribbon paved with rubies curls through the foliage. At the time, the production of transparent enamel was still a new method, and often suffered from problems while cooling. There are no flaws in the enamel of the Clover Leaf Egg, but it is considered too fragile to travel.

The "surprise" which was inside the egg has been lost but according to archives it is reported to be a four leaf clover with twenty three diamonds, and four miniature portraits of the four daughters of the Tsar: Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia.