Details have just been released regarding a very special instrument designed and built by UK atelier Goldfinch Pianos. Here we have a truly spectacular grand piano housed inside a four-metre, gold-finished egg structure. It is designed as both instrument and ceremonial artifact.
The piano cost well over £3 million ($4 million) to make; consequently Goldfinch’s The Imperial (aka the Imperial Egg) is certainly a contender for the title of the world’s most expensive instrument.
The project originated in 2017 when a private client (as yet unnamed) approached Goldfinch looking for a custom-made instrument. The client initially had an idea that called for a crystal piano, but Goldfinch’s Creative Director Mark Norman proposed an alternative design inspired by Fabergé eggs. These famed artefacts were created by the House of Fabergé in St Petersburg (Russia) between 1885 and 1917, and today are highly valued—in 2025 the Fabergé Winter Egg sold for over $30million at auction.
The Imperial called for a structure standing over 2 metres tall and 4.5 metres wide when open. Two gilded shells part, under the control of a mobile app to reveal a full-sized grand piano within.
Construction
The project took five years and consumed over 100,000 hours of design and build time.
Integrating an acoustic piano into an enclosed curved shell posed such significant challenges that at one point the project faced cancellation. Some of the extraordinary issues included…
- The opening mechanism: which had to be ultra-smooth for maximum effect (see video below).
- The acoustics: the curved interior cavity behaved unlike anything the team had encountered. Consequently the acoustics had to be modelled from scratch. Custom dampening was added beneath the black velvet lining to preserve the piano’s tonal clarity. This also served to give the illusion of a jewelled casket.
- The logistics: how would this massive instrument be transported? It was to be installed in a historic location and had to pass through fairly narrow doorways. Delivery required ten specialists and two removal vehicles. Six technicians reassembled it on site.
- The gilding process: this was the most problematic issue. Traditional gold electroplating was impractical on this scale, and gold leaf could not deliver the seamless finish required.
Goldfinch, along with a specialist in Milan, adapted a silver-nitrate chrome spray method, utilising a bespoke 24-carat gold solution alongside tailor-made primers and activators. The process had never before been attempted at this scale.
Ten layers were applied in total to achieve the final, highly reflective finish. The coating was apparently so dazzling that the team wore dark glasses for the final assembly.
Although completed in 2022, Goldfinch has only now revealed the existence of this piano. The Imperial resides in a private ballroom, where it functions both as a traditional acoustic piano and as an automated, self-playing instrument. Technicians from Goldfinch visit every three months to service, tune, and maintain the instrument.
Commissions
Goldfinch is the private atelier of Edelweiss Pianos, based in its Cambridgeshire workshop. While Goldfinch’s standard bespoke commissions start from £300,000, specialised architectural builds like The Imperial occupy a unique tier in luxury instrument manufacturing. While the exact cost of producing this specific instrument has not been disclosed, Goldfinch states that “commissions at the level of The Imperial start at £3 million.” So possibly the most expensive piano ever made?
Two additional egg-inspired concepts are tucked away in Goldfinch’s design vault, but they have yet to be built.
Websites: Goldfinch, Edelweiss Pianos
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