Faberge Christ icon sells high

A Faberge icon of Jesus Christ in a silver frame studded with rubies, sapphires, pearls and emeralds sold today for $780,000, more than five times its high estimate, at a Sotheby’s auction in New York.

A Moscow dealer in the room lost to a telephone bidder in a drawn-out, five-minute battle for the icon, made in about 1900.

The icon was the most expensive lot in Wednesday’s sale of Faberge items, imperial porcelain, icons, bronzes and enamels.

On Tuesday, Sotheby’s sold $36 million of Russian 19th and 20th century paintings.