Police Free Man Jailed for Selling Faberge-Like Eggs : Jewels: A shop owner admits she erred in claiming the Russian immigrant stole her imitations of the priceless art objects.

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

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

The approximately 5-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.

But the shop’s owner--who had earlier identified that egg and eight miniature ones Gold had as among those stolen from her--retracted her statements after closer study, Smith said.

“Anybody’s going to be upset for being in jail, but he understood,” said Smith, who described Gold as a Soviet immigrant who hopes to open his own antique business.

“He was really apologetic that he caused so much trouble,” Smith said. “He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Gold could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

He was arrested Saturday at a Santa Monica antique show after a Phoenix dealer who was aware of the recent Hollywood robbery contacted authorities after he noticed that Gold had several Faberge-style eggs. Gold was held in lieu of $2,500 bail in the Santa Monica Jail.

Neither Gold nor the 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 an American firm named Faberge.

Genuine Faberge eggs, considered priceless, are among the rarest art objects in the world. Of the few remaining, 10 are in a museum in the Soviet Union.

Although the eggs are not the rare antiques, they are expensive, valued for their craftsmanship, precious and semiprecious materials, and cachet, said Sgt. Lou Boozell, in charge of investigating major jewelry robberies for the Los Angeles police.

The 35 eggs reported stolen on Melrose Avenue ranged in price from about $75O to a couple thousand dollars, police said. Most were small enough to wear on a bracelet or necklace--”about the size of a Peanut M & M,” Boozell said.

It was not clear Tuesday whether Gold was trying to sell his eggs at the weekend antique show, where he did not have a booth, or was seeking advice on their value, Smith said.

The Melrose Avenue dealer who was robbed was at the same show and had told police that Gold’s eggs looked like hers, Smith said. He said she changed her mind after researching catalogues and books in her shop. Gold told police he had purchased the largest of his eggs from a Beverly Hills store and was able to produce a receipt. He said he had obtained the smaller eggs at the Rose Bowl, apparently at a swap meet.

Boozell said men described by their victims as Russian, Armenian or Middle Eastern are believed to have carried out a series of unsolved jewelry robberies throughout the city. The Hollywood robbery, in which two men took an estimated $57,000 in merchandise at gunpoint, seems to fit their pattern, he said.