Man Freed in Theft of Faberge-Type Eggs

An Encino man jailed for three days in connection with a Melrose Avenue jewelry theft was released Tuesday after police determined that the Faberge-type jeweled eggs he had were not those reported stolen.

Sam Gold, 32, was freed after investigators verified a receipt he produced, showing that he legitimately purchased the largest of the nine eggs he had, said Santa Monica Detective Mike Smith.

The approximately five-inch-tall enameled art object, stamped with the name Faberge and designed to resemble the opulent “Easter eggs” the czars once lavished on the Russian imperial court, was similar to one reported stolen Jan. 29 from a chic boutique in Hollywood, Smith said.

Neither Gold nor the robbed Melrose Avenue dealer, whom Smith declined to identify, claimed to own any of the original eggs made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by goldsmith Carl Faberge, police said. Instead, both acknowledged owning replicas manufactured by a U.S. firm named Faberge.