Penelope Parkin

Just over 100 years ago, on 4 September 1893 in Eastwood, Cunkeld, a well-educated young woman sat down to write a letter to a little boy who lay ill in bed. It began: 'My Dear Noel, I don't know what to write to you, so I shall tell you a story about four little rabbits whose names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail and Peter'. It was to become one of the most famous letters ever written.

Following in the footsteps of his father Gustav, who was a jeweller, Carl Fabergé started work as an apprentice in Frankfurt, Florence and Paris, taking over the family's St Petersburg business in1872, aged 26. In total, 50 Imperial eggs were made. Prized as Easter gifts, and symbolic of 'Resurrection', 'New Life' and 'hopefulness', the first were crafted for Russian Tsar Alexander III, who ordered one a year to surprise the Tsarina Maria.