2023 Author: Cody Thornton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-24 11:20
We are not talking about nobles who have fallen for charity. But even the aristocrats put their assets up for auction from time to time.
If your name is Tour D'Argent, you are among the oldest restaurants in the world (opened in Paris in 1582, same property since 1911) and at your tables overlooking the Seine, half the rulers of the world have alternated, from Queen Elizabeth to Hiro Hito, it may happen that you give a refurbished to the interior, let a breath of fresh air in.
Especially if you have lost two Michelin stars in the last twenty years.
Taking advantage of the necessary adjustments, the glorious French restaurant where an entire generation of Italian food critics, Edoardo Raspelli in the lead, went on pilgrimage to try the Canard a la presse (pressed duck), put up for auction yesterday and the day before yesterday over 3000 objects: an apparatus now somewhat outdated although part of the myth.
Carpets, tables and screens, chiseled silverware, sumptuous tablecloths, crystal goblets, porcelain, ashtrays, lanterns, precious bottles, utensils such as the famous "presse à canard", built in the 19th century by Christofle to prepare the duck in a unique way pressed and sold for a figure ranging between 4 and 6 thousand euros.
Particularly coveted are the rarities of the cellar made up of more than 350 thousand bottles of 15 thousand different brands. Especially three bottles of Grand Belle Clos du Griffier with a date before the French Revolution (1788) stamped in the sealing wax.
Starting price: from 20,000 to 25,000 euros.
The auction hosted by Paris Artcurial is already the third in the famous history of La Tour d’Argent which in the meantime has reopened in its new version updated also in the menu entrusted to the starred chef Philippe Labbé.