The Hermitage will conduct research on the eggs from the exhibition "Faberge - Jeweler of the Imperial Court" after reports that there are fakes among them, said the museum's general director Mikhail Piotrovsky.

Now the center’s laboratory has been tasked with researching the history of the new Fabergé items that were presented at our exhibition; the owner has given permission for this.

According to Piotrovsky, the documents of the disputed exhibits will also be studied, and a general art history analysis will be carried out in context.

In mid-January, the famous art dealer Andrei Ruzhnikov wrote an open letter in which he called a number of items at the exhibition "Faberge - Jeweler of the Imperial Court" fakes. The collector, in particular, claimed that all imperial eggs were made in a single copy, but the items at the exhibition in St. Petersburg repeat exhibits in other Russian museums. Other European experts also expressed doubts about the authenticity of the items.
As the BBC Russian Service has found out , the exhibits, the authenticity of which experts have questioned, belong to two private collections. One of them is connected with businessman Konstantin Goloshchapov, whom the media called Vladimir Putin's " close friend " and " masseur ".

Hermitage to test eggs at Faberge exhibition after reports they may be fakes