Negotiating the future of a near priceless work of art might leave some people walking on eggshells but the expert who found a home for a long-lost Fabergé masterpiece coolly conducted business in a potato field in Kerry.

A scrap metal dealer who bought a golden egg at a US bric-a-brac market discovered it is an ultra- rare Fabergé egg worth around €24m.

A deal to buy a Faberge egg, said to be worth around €23m, that was to be sold for scrap was done in a "potato field in Kerry", according to one of the people who played a vital role in the negotiations.

Peter the Great patterned the city after Amsterdam, and even though St Petersburg is newer than New York by almost 100 years, in some places it feels a thousand years old — a few buildings seem to be a cross between Roman ruins and German palaces. The building walls, usually between three and four feet thick, host basement cafés and restaurants where you can’t get a mobile phone signal. The walls are moist, and smell like rivers, because the city was built on marshland.

Russia’s Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov today warned a US victory in Iraq was “far from certain,” and said the campaign was prompting Moscow to strengthen its own armed forces.