After toppling the Provisional Government and executing the last tsars family, the Bolsheviks seized the former imperial governments wealth. When the Soviets began running short on funds, they opened the treasure chests stored in the Kremlins Diamond Fund. The Peoples Finance Committee decided to sell hundreds of jewelry, Faberg eggs, and tsarist regalia items, such as Catherine the Greats gems, to Western buyers. Valued at five million rubles or over $1 billion today, some of these items entered private collections, while other notable treasures disappeared from history.1. Crown JewelsImperial crown jewels photographed for the 1920s Soviet auction. Source: North Country Public RadioWhen World War I broke out in 1914, the Russian government packed and sealed the crown jewels into eight trunks. These trunks, shipped from the capital of Petrograd (St Petersburg) to Moscow, arrived at the Armory Chamber in the Kremlin. The trunks stayed sealed with their wealth of historic treasures until the war ended and the Soviets opened the trunks in 1922. To their surprise, they found 773 jewels, imperial regalia, and bars of gold, platinum, and silver.After the downfall of the Romanovs in 1917, the Soviets realized that the jewels seized from the imperial family and other aristocrats were disappearing at lightning speed. Even the first 63-member committee, tasked with securing and recording the treasures, fell under suspicion when gems continued to disappear. The Bolsheviks executed several committee members for theft and shipped others off to Siberia.In 1922, the Bolsheviks established another committee. This time, famous mineralogist Aleksandr Evgenevich Fersman and jewel experts, which included Agathon Faberg, began cataloging and photographing the 25,300 carats of diamonds, 3,200 carats of rare Colombian emeralds, and 2,600 carats of Ceylon, Kashmir, and Siam sapphires found in Russian crown jewels and regalia. Listed as of great historical value, these gems included topazes, amethysts, garnets, turquoises, beryl, and alexandrite, jewelry such as aquamarine diadems, rings, earrings, and necklaces, and loose gemstones such as diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and pearls.This collection spanned the fourteenth through twentieth centuries, from before the reign of Ivan the Terrible to Nicholas II, and included treasures such as the 189-carat Orlov diamond, the Imperial Nuptial Crown, and the Imperial Globe decorated with a 200-carat sapphire.Catherine II by Aleksey Antropov, c. 1765. Source: Tver Gallery via Wikimedia CommonsThe Soviets vacillated between keeping the treasures on account of their historical significance and selling them off to gain hard currency during the post-civil war famine. In 1925, the Soviet government published a special committee report, Russias Treasure of Diamonds and Precious Stones, to publicize that they did not intend to sell the 406 Romanov jewels featured in the record. According to a 1719 imperial decree by Peter the Great, no one could buy, sell, or give away these jewels. But since the Bolsheviks had destroyed the old order, these rules no longer applied.Multiple jewels went up for international auction under Joseph Stalin several years later. Between 1927 and 1938, the Soviets sold three-quarters or 569 of the imperial jewels to buyers at Christies and Sothebys auction houses. Many of these jewels disappeared without a trace after the sale.2. Faberg Egg Hen With Sapphire PendantThe First Hen Egg. Like the 1886 Faberg Hen Egg and its missing sapphire pendant, this egg once contained a replica of the imperial crown which enclosed a ruby pendant egg. Source: FabergMost people have heard of the House of Faberg, the Russian luxury jewelry firm estimated to have created 150,000-200,000 pieces during its existence. Famed as the court jeweler to tsars Alexander III and Nicholas II, the Faberg firm made 69 imperial eggs for the Romanovs between 1885 and 1916.After the October Revolution, the Bolsheviks nationalized the company and seized its stock. In the aftermath, seven Faberg eggs went missing. These eggs, valued at millions of dollars apiece, currently include one of the first Faberg eggs commissioned by Emperor Alexander III for his wife, Maria Feodorovna. Known as the Faberg Hen Egg with a Sapphire Pendant, no known images of this lost egg exist. Commissioned in 1886, the egg, made of gold and decorated with hundreds of rose diamonds, showcased a hen holding a sapphire egg pendant in her beak after taking it out of a gold nest.Until the Russian Revolution, the egg lived at the Dowager Empress home at the Anichkov Palace in St Petersburg. After 1922, when an inventory showed that it was housed in the Kremlins Armory Palace collection, the eggs trail went cold.Today, it remains a mystery whether the egg is lost or ended up in the hands of a private collector who has never revealed its existence.3. The Mauve Faberg EggThe Mauve Room at the Alexander Palace. Source: Wikimedia CommonsCrafted by Faberg for the Dowager Empress in 1897, the Mauve Egg likely had a gold and mauve enamel shell enclosing a heart-shaped surprise that opened like a three-leaf clover. These three miniatures, made from rose-cut diamonds, pearls, and red, white, and green enamel, finished with watercolors painted on ivory, are the only parts of the Mauve Egg that survive today. The surprise depicted Nicholas II, Alexandra Feodorovna, and their baby, Grand Duchess Olga.This Faberg egg did not appear in either the 1917 or 1922 inventories that listed confiscated Romanov valuables. This leaves the possibility that either Maria Feodorovna escaped with it when she left Russia or someone else took it before the Soviets had a chance to document it.For treasure hunters, it is interesting to note that in February 1933, the Soviets transferred the Armory to the commandants office in the Kremlin. During this transition, Commandant Rudolf Peterson released three Faberge Easter eggs without any documentation other than verbal instruction. With the eggs scattered around the former empire or snapped up by foreign buyers, Romanov memorabilia such as Easter eggs, jewelry, icons, and other valuables turned up in antique shops like Armand Hammers department stores in the United States during the 1930s. In 1924, the House of Faberg moved to Paris, refurbishing and recreating items reminiscent of former imperial glory.A final possible mention of the Mauve Egg appeared during the Exhibition of Russian Art at Belgrave Square in London in 1935. Lent to the exhibition by the Dowager Empress daughter, Grand Duchess Xenia, the exhibition catalogue offered an Easter egg containing a miniature portrait of Empress Alexandra and Grand Duchess Olga. It did not, however, mention a miniature picture of the last tsar.4. Nicholas IIs Diamond-Encrusted SaberPortrait of Nicholas II by E. F. Liphart, 1914 and 1888 Caucasian saber (shashka) engraved in gold and enameled floral motifs. Source: Russian Virtual Museum/Apollo AuctionsWhile there remains little historical information about a specific saber encrusted with diamonds owned by the last tsar, a former KGB officer later revealed that Nicholas II and his son, Tsarevich Alexei, owned diamond-encrusted sabers at the time of their exile to Tobolsk and later at Ekaterinburg, where they were murdered in July 1918.During the 1930s and early 1940s, Josef Stalin undertook special operations to track down the former tsars treasures, with limited success.The whereabouts of these prized sabers remain unknown today since many personal items of inestimable value that the Romanovs smuggled with them to Siberia have disappeared without a trace.5. Royal Danish EggFaberg Royal Danish Egg from a pre-revolutionary photograph. Princess Dagmar of Denmark (later Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia, Left) with her father and siblings. Source: Wikimedia CommonsThis deluxe egg, also known as the Danish Jubilee Egg, mysteriously disappeared from its perch at the Gatchina Palace after July 1917.Made by the Faberg firm in 1903, this jeweled and enameled Easter Egg belonged to Nicholas IIs mother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. Inside the pale blue egg, studded with gold and precious stones, nestled a double-sided stand with two portraits of Maria Feodorovnas parents, King Christian IX of Denmark and Queen Louise of Hesse-Kassel. Topping out at a whopping nine inches in height, upheld by heraldic lions, and crowned with a miniature figurine of the Danish ancient Order of the Elephant, the Royal Danish Egg was one of the largest Faberge eggs ever made.Nicholas II sent it to his mother during her Easter trip to Denmark to commemorate the 40th anniversary of her fathers accession to the throne. It is one of the three lost Faberg eggs that only exists in a single photograph.6. Wheat Sheaf DiademWheat Sheaf Diadem created for Empress Maria Feodorovna and Maria Feodorovna with the future Nicholas II. Source: Russia Beyond the Headlines/Virginia Museum of Fine ArtsThe Wheat Sheaf Diadem is one of the Romanovs most fabulous missing treasures. Created for the last tsars mother, this stunning headpiece featured six glittering gold wheat ears intertwined with delicate platinum stalks of flax, that inclined toward the tiaras front. The diadem symbolized the sun rising over Russian fields of grain.This masterful tiara, encrusted with chunks of diamonds and a giant 32.52-carat, colorless leuco sapphire at the center to represent the sun, disappeared after the 1927 Christies auction.In a bitter historical irony, the sale of this item came just five years after Communisms mass famine that killed an estimated five million people and three years before collectivization and its associated Holodomor famine, which left around 3.9 million people dead.Experts have speculated that a buyer might have dismantled the Wheat Sheaf tiara or that it may currently sit in the private collection of old money collectors in either Switzerland or Prague.In 1980, a Soviet jeweler replicated the lost tiara with a mix of gold, diamonds, and platinum to represent the countrys agricultural wealth. Today, this recreation sits on display in the Kremlins Diamond Fund in Moscow.7. Alexander III Commemorative EggAlexander III Commemorative Egg photographed pre-1917 and Portrait of Alexander III by an unknown painter, second half of the 19th century. Source: Wikimedia Commons/Russian Virtual MuseumAnother item that vanished without a trace during or after the Russian Revolution is one of 51 Easter Faberg eggs crafted by the Romanovs court jeweler.Commissioned by Nicholas II for his mother, the Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna in 1909, this imperial Easter egg consisted of a matte white enamel egg decorated with gold bands, two brilliant diamonds, and 3,767 rose-cut diamonds. Inside the egg, the surprise consisted of a miniature gold bust depicting Tsar Alexander III mounted on a lapis lazuli pedestal studded with rose-cut diamonds.Last seen in July 1917 at the Gatchina Palace before the Bolsheviks seized power, this lost egg only exists in a single photograph.8. Imperial GoldRussian rubles. Source: PixabayFor over 100 years, the question of Russias lost imperial gold hoard has intrigued generations of treasure seekers. Now, the answer to the mystery might be found at the bottom of the deepest freshwater lake in the world.During the summer of 1918, a bitter civil war raged between Red and White forces in Siberia. In May, the Czechoslovak Legion revolted against the Bolsheviks and fought to break out of the Russian East via the Trans-Siberian Railway. This event triggered the rise of anti-Soviet governments and the presence of Allied troops on Siberian soil.In Omsk, an anti-Soviet government rose, led by Admiral Alexander Kolchak, who took the title of Supreme Ruler of Russia. Meanwhile, advancing Bolshevik forces had their eyes on the stores of imperial gold bullion, valued at approximately 410 million rubles, stored in the vaults of the Kazan Bank. When Leon Trotsky and the Red Army pushed the Whites back beyond Kazan in 1919, the Soviets marched up the bank steps to seize the gold. To their surprise, the vaults stood empty. The Bolsheviks discovered that Kolchak had evacuated the gold and shipped it aboard the Czech Legions armored train to Siberia where the revolutionary regime did not yet have a foothold. The Reds boarded their own armored train to chase down the treasure.Czech Legion armored train in Siberia. Source: Radio Free EuropeIn Irkutsk, 40,000 members of the Czech Legion, hired by Imperial Russia to fight on the Allied side in the First World War and stranded in Siberia when the Bolsheviks cut off escape routes to the West, waited for a chance to obtain safe passage to return home. Disillusioned with Kolchak authoritarian ways and resentful at their unsuccessful power struggle to control the gold reserves, the Legion cut a deal with the Bolsheviks.In return for safe passage out of Siberia, the Legion withdrew their support for Admiral Kolchak and the gold reserves and surrendered most of their weapons. They handed them over to the Red Political Center. As a result, the Bolsheviks promised to allow the Czech Legion to set sail from the port at Vladivostok. The Bolsheviks seized the gold and signed a truce that enabled the Czechs to continue their journey to Russias Far East. A Soviet firing squad executed Kolchak and pushed his body into a hole cut into the ice on the Angara River on February 7, 1920. After this, the Red Army consolidated its control over Siberia.While Kolchaks story ended in Irkutsk, the story of the imperial treasure continued. When the Bolsheviks went to load their train with 235 million rubles worth of bullion to ship back to Kazan, they discovered that almost half of the gold had disappeared.Lake Baikal in winter. Source: PixabaySome researchers suspect that either the Whites or the Czechs tried to smuggle up to 200 tons of gold on a train traversing the Trans-Siberian Railway across the rocky Sayan Mountains to Japan. The overloaded cars may have slipped and rolled down the rocky slopes and disappeared into Lake Baikals deep water. According to KGB sources, the Soviets discovered 26 boxes of tsarist gold hidden in an underground stash site three miles from the railways Tayga station.During the 1930s and early 1940s, the search for the rest of the imperial gold continued. Stalin even initiated a major treasure-hunting operation to retrieve the missing gold estimated at 50 billion today. While the operation managed to recover one gold stash in 1933, they failed to uncover the rest of the hoard. In 2010, Russian Mir-2 mini-submarines trawling the lakes depths uncovered fragments of a broken railway line, civil-war-period ammunition boxes, and the presence of metallic objects lying on the bottom of the lake.Without further exploration, the legend of what may have happened to the treasure trove of Tsarist gold will continue to intrigue generations of adventure seekers and history buffs.