Meanwhile, a few examining magistrates, such as Eric Halphen, who has pursued Mr Tiberi, and Eva Joly, whose targets include Mr Dumas, have become media stars thanks to their willingness to defy political pressure.
The egg, an engagement present for Germaine Halphen, who became the wife of Baron Edouard de Rothschild, was originally bought by Edouard Ephrussi, the representative of the Rothschild family's oil interests in Baku, in modern-day Azerbaijan.