A scramble to bid on Faberge egg?

A previously unrecorded Faberge egg valued at up to $18 million is going up for sale next month, Christie’s auction house said Thursday.

The pink enamel-and-gold egg is one of only a dozen designed to the highest standards for clients other than Russia’s ruling family. It has been in the Rothschild banking family since 1902, when it was given as an engagement present.

The egg contains a diamond-set cockerel that pops up every hour and flaps its wings, nods its head and opens and closes its beak.

It will go on sale Nov. 28 at Christie’s in London, where it is expected to fetch from $12 million to $18 million. If it reaches the top price, it will break the existing record for a Russian artwork, the $9.6 million paid for a Faberge egg in New York in April 2002.