Lest there are thems amongst you wot think Faberg=82 was the only one
to make magnificent bejeweled eggs … I am here to tell you
otherwise. There is or once was a Parisian designer by the name of
Bernard Maquin who made an egg that is not to be believed. 'T’was an
Easter Egg in fact … or an Oestre Egg for those of you who like to
delve into the etymological intricacies of the English language.
Oestre … a Teutonic goddess of spring’s fertility from whence the
word oestrus is also derived. As to the egg itself that so often
symbolizes Easter … it is an ancient paradigm of rebirth and
renewal that heralded the oncoming of the vernal equinox. And the
Easter Bunny … well, that rabbit was probably in origin a hare …
a lunar animal sacred not only to Oestre … but to all
moon-goddesses.
The name of Bernie’s egg is: The Royal Egg. It took Bernard Maquin’s
team 2500 hours to create. Below is a paragraph of what might be
mundane to some. Skip it if you’re bored.
The egg contains the following:
1061 diamonds for a total weight of 33.51 carats.
486 cabochon sapphires--42.37 carats.
104 cabochon rubies--16.34 carats.
785 square cut sapphires--143.10 carats.
204 square cut rubies--35.46 carats.
139 amethysts, peridots, and citrines--286.74 carats
... with each stone being specially cut to fit the space in which it
would reside. It's all in 18 karat gold. And its weight is a stunning
1772 grams ... about 4 pounds if my calculations serve.
Before the turn of the century … the egg was worth something in
the vicinity of $115,000. Personally … when I look at it … I
think it’s underpriced.
Did I mention that the egg is the universal womb of space-time …
and that in it resides all of the universe’s creative potential …
and from within it comes the hatching of all life. Yes … it is
true. The world was hatched from an egg … much in the same fashion
I would surmise as the chick was hatched from the egg which its
mother–the hen–laid. I say there’s a giant hen in the sky
somewhere … squatting over an empty piece of space … getting
ready to lay yet another egg which will give birth to yet another
world filled with little mammalian and reptilian creatures … all
beady eyed and without emotion … gearing up for their race to
nowhere.
Ain’t it grand to think we all might have simply come out of the
working end of a cosmic hen. A vision to behold in the recesses of
our imagination … to bring forth every time one of us little
chicks think we’re better than another little chick. Ah well …
philosophy aside … may I present this invitation … cluckety
cluck cluck.
For those of you who are new to this thing called Tidbits…may I
direct you to my home page at www.tyler-adam.com where you will
scroll down the left side menu till you get to the area that says
Tidbits Graphics … and then click on the link that says: Oestre
… where you’ll see an image of the Egg.
And there ya have it.
That’s it for this week folks.
Catch you all next week.
Benjamin Mark
-- http://www.tyler-adam.com --