Having sold this very same golden egg, when it first came to light 3 ½ years ago, for a then house record of £20,640 (including the 20% Buyer’s Premium), Batemans of Stamford were looking to produce another record breaking result – and they delivered in spectacular style!
Many people will remember the great Cadbury’s Creme Egg Conundrum treasure hunt of the mid 1980s where twelve caskets containing a scroll were hidden at secret locations across the country, found through clues hidden in a book written by Don Shaw – the prize for deciphering the clues and finding a hidden casket was a golden egg! What they may not realise is that there was a secret thirteenth larger egg in the series, which was awarded to one very lucky Cadbury’s retailer via a private draw for helping with the nation-wide promotion.
This ‘thirteenth’ 22ct gold egg, also commissioned by Cadbury’s from Royal Goldsmiths Garrard & Co, was considerably larger than the original twelve, weighing 323.6g and standing 8.3cm high; it was based on the front cover of the book itself, incorporating elements of each of the twelve riddles.
It was first offered by Batemans of Stamford on behalf of the original recipients and was sold in their auction on 1st July 2017 for a then house record hammer price of £17,200 against pre-sale estimates of £10,000 - £15,000 – the total price paid by the overjoyed buyer (incl. the 20% Buyer’s Premium) was £20,640!
On Friday 19th February, having returned to Batemans following the sad passing of the previous buyer, and offered as part of Batemans’ specialist quarterly Jewellery & Watches, Silver & Gold Sale, the golden egg smashed its pre-sale estimates of £15,000 - £20,000 and sold to an online bidder for a new auction house record of £37,200 (including 20% Buyer’s Premium).
Cadbury’s are currently celebrating 50 years of the much loved Creme Egg with another promotional campaign – the ‘Goobilee’ – and are again hiding golden versions of the Cadbury Creme Egg for consumers to find in-store, giving them the chance to win up to £5,000!
The original ‘Creme Egg Conundrum’ promotional campaign was one of the most successful in British history and the recent record result for the ultimate prize from it shows just how much interest there still is today.
Managing Director Greg Bateman with the incredible golden egg.
Managing Director Greg Bateman said “We are absolutely thrilled to have sold this unique golden egg for another house record, and are so pleased for the vendors who trusted us to sell the egg for them, especially having had to come to terms with the loss of their father last year who was the first buyer of this egg in July 2017. We hope the new buyer enjoys this incredible piece of confectionary history for decades to come, and we can’t wait to see if any more of the original twelve come to light – any current owners know where to find us!”
