Wealth

So much of it -- on display at the Hillwood Estate in DC, home to Marjorie Merryweather Post -- once the richest woman in the US and owner of General Foods. Her estate is now open to the public and probably the closest thing to "old aristocratic Europe" that you'll find in the US (and maybe even in Europe itself!).

Her collection of French and Russian fineries include this Fabergé 'imperial egg' -- one of only about 40 left in the world. Made in 1914 by the House of Fabergé, it was originally presented by Czar Nicholas II of Russia to Catherine the Great, with scenes painted en camaïeu rose (pink monochrome) after the 18th-century Rococo paintings of François Boucher.

As all imperial eggs, it housed a surprise (now unfortunately lost): a small troika with a Catherine the Great figurine, all of which in gold. It could be wound up and let lose on the dinning table for guests' entertainment.

Ahhh, the simple pleasures of the good old days... ;)