The first Faberge Egg was given as a gift from Tsar Alexander III to his wife on Orthodox Easter, March 24, 1885. The gift was a success and Faberge was commissioned each Easter to make an egg for the Empress, the designs becoming more and more elaborate as the years went on. After Alexander III’s death, his son, Nicholas II, continued the tradition by having two eggs commissioned each year- one for his mother, the Dowager Empress who would eventually have 30 of these eggs, and one for his wife, Alexandria, who would receive 20.