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Vintage Louis Vuitton Steamer Trunk for $22,500
Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels
New orleans
Antique English Picnic & Games Chest for $34,500
Filed under: Decor
A stunning expanding English mahogany picnic chest and games table is being offered for sale by M.S. Rau Antiques of New Orleans for $34,500. The exquisite piece, made circa 1920, resembles a simple wooden trunk at first glance; with its four legs unfolded however, the top and sides open out to reveal a complete luncheon service for eight, including Sheffield silverplate utensils, bone-handled cutlery, plates and saucers, cups and glasses, kettles and burners for hot water and soup, single and stacked enamel containers, wicker-wrapped glass bottles, ceramic butter pots, silver plated tins, a corkscrew and matchbox.
When the meal is over, the table folds and unfolds again, transforming into a felt-topped card table, perfect for a game with the deck of playing cards which are also included in the fitted compartments. No doubt designed for a wealthy British army officer or aristocrat on safari who wished to sacrifice none of the comforts of home, the impressive example of British Colonial campaign furniture would have been custom crafted to the owner's specifications and transported about by a retinue of servants – the brass fittings highly polished, of course.
Vintage 1905 Rolls-Royce Picnic Case for $14,800
Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos
Last summer my colleague Noah Joseph wrote about the bespoke Rolls-Royce picnic set designed for the new Phantom, which harks back to the golden age of motoring. Now an original version – designed for a Rolls-Royce owner back in 1905 – is being offered for sale. The perfectly preserved case was made to double as a footrest in the passenger compartment. It contains a picnic service for four, ingeniously designed to accommodate sandwiches, tea, coffee and cocktails. Tucked into the lid are two leather-wrapped stainless steel thermoses, four dishes with recesses for teacups, a matchbox, and utensils including forks, mustard and butter spoons and bone-handled knives from Joseph Fenton & Sons of Sheffield. The case's bottom holds two glass bottles wrapped in wicker for water or wine, two flasks with fitted metal cups, an enameled container, a kettle and burner, four teacups, four smaller glass bottles, ceramic mustard and butter pots, salt and pepper jars and a small tin. M.S. Rau antiques of New Orleans is offering the piece of classic automotive history for sale at $14,800.
[via LuxuryLaunches]
First Street, Estate of the Day
Filed under: Estates
This beautiful painted lady is in the heart of New Orleans' Garden District. The Italianate Victorian home was built circa 1849 but has been given a colorful renovation. Details to love here include the eight fireplaces with marble mantles, the intricate ceiling medallions, a double parlor, pocket doors, moldings and tall windows. This five-bedroom home is listed at $2,997,500.
Chefs Plan Restaurant R'evolution in New Orleans
Filed under: Dining
New Orleans has been in the news this week as people look back on the city five years after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Things are cooking in New Orleans and one sign of that is a new restaurant development company being formed by chefs John Folse and Rick Tramonto. Both men are notable chefs in their own right with several restaurants, cookbooks and more to their credit. The culinary duo's new company is called Home on the Range: Folse Tramonto Restaurant Development LLC and Nation's Restaurant News reports that they will open their first joint venture, Restaurant R'evolution in the French Quarter's Royal Sonesta Hotel next year. Tramonto's who has been Chicago-based while running Tru, plans to split his time between the two cities.The new restaurant will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner and will serve in the dining room, bar, three private dining rooms, a 12-seat wine room, an exposition kitchen with 10 seats and a chef's table for another 12. The restaurant is being designed by The Johnson Studio of Atlanta, which designed Tru.
BP Oil Becomes Art
The BP Deepwater Horizon spill has been turned into art in the hands of artist Brian Borrello. The Jonathan Ferrara Gallery in New Orleans has announced a limited edition print by Borrello that will support the St. Bernard Project in collaboration with LSU Health Sciences Center Department of Psychiatry to provide services for families impacted by the oil spill. Borrello's "New Orleans Skyline" is a high-resolution digital print on archival paper with oil collected from the BP Deepwater Horizon spill. Borrello began drawing the skylines of US cities in 2003, often adding toxic components to the image that relate to the city. Because of New Orleans' connection to the oil industry the painting received an application of motor oil. The new prints contain some of BP's spilled oil that he collected from the beaches of Florida and the marshes of Louisiana. He is donating 20 percent of the proceeds to the St. Bernard Project. The print will be sold directly from the gallery (online and in gallery) and is an edition of 100. It sells for $290.
[via ArtDaily]
Nestor Miranda to Release New Art Deco Cigar
Filed under: Cigars
A new creation from Pepin Garcia's cigar factory will be unveiled in New Orleans this week. Miami Cigar is set to release its newest cigar, the Nestor Miranda Art Deco, at the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association's 78th Annual Convention and International Trade Show. This exciting new cigar's blend is 60 percent Nicaraguan Corojo 99 and 40 percent Dominican San Vicente, dual Dominican Criollo '98/Nicaraguan Habano '00 binder, and a dark, oily and aromatic Nicaraguan Corojo '06 wrapper leaf with a triple cap. The cap, according to Miami Cigar, offers a dark, rich-tasting smoke that provides a unique balance of aroma, flavor and strength."According to Nestor Miranda:
"We wanted to get Pepin out of his comfort zone, which is using Nicaraguan tobacco," said Nestor Miranda. "He accepted the challenge and came out with an amazing blend using 40% Dominican tobacco."
Instead of using traditional wooden boxes, the Nestor Miranda Art Deco will be sold in metallic art deco-designed tins with 21 cigars each. The sizes are:
Coffee Break / 4.5 x 50
Robusto Grande / 5.5 x 54
Gran Toro / 6 x 60
Six Cigar Celebs Tease Their Secrets for IPCPR
Filed under: Cigars
Drew Estate
There's always something interesting brewing at the Drew Estate factory in Esteli, Nicaragua, and this summer is no different. Marvin Samel, co-founder of the company, hints that something interesting is coming his year.
Jewelry Line Raises Awareness And Funds For Gulf Oil Spill
Filed under: Jewelry, Charity, Green
The Gulf of Mexico oil spill has generated plenty of conversation, controversy and compassion. New Orleans-based jewelry designer Mignon Faget, has a new line of cause jewelry to raise awareness and funds for the environmental disaster.The new collection, called simply "In Mourning" pulls together animal-centered pieces that Faget used in previous collections. The collection takes the oysters, redfish, speckled trout, pelicans and other animals and uses them as tie tacks on black ribbons and pendants on black cords. Blackened oxidized silver pieces represent the effect of the oil on the oysters and other wildlife. The pieces are designed both to celebrate the diversity of the Gulf's marine and wildlife habitats but also to remind people of the tremendous losses caused by the spill.
Pieces retail from $65 to $300 and benefit the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, a nonprofit organization that has been around since the 1980s working on restoring and protecting the Louisiana coast. The collection is available at MignonFaget.com.
[via National Jeweler]
The Classicist: The South's Very Greatest Estates
Filed under: Estates, Books, Wealth
The greatest, most architecturally and historically significant estates in the Southern United States are depicted in all their glory in Laurie Ossman's new book Great Houses of the South (Rizzoli, $55). Beyond mere regional curiosity, Ossman declares that "The great house of the South stands at the center of the architectural iconography of America." 39 distinctive estates, reflecting the times, values and tastes of their builders, from the Colonial Era up to World War II and running the full gamut of Southern Style, are lavishly photographed and evocatively described.
The book is divided into four chronological sections: Part 1: 1700–1800, Part 2: 1800–1820, Part 3: 1820–1861, and Part 4: 1865–1940, providing a "sweeping narrative of tradition and change as seen through a rich array of grand residences", ranging from Shirley, a James River Plantation firmly tied to its English roots, to the Gilded Age splendor of Biltmore in Asheville, North Carolina, and the eclectic traditionalism of 20th century masterworks such as Longue Vue in New Orleans and Miami's famed Vizcaya, built by agricultural industrialist James Deering in 1916. All of the featured homes are open to the public for viewing.
Ossman decided the houses featured should be open to the public to emphasize "the issue of historic preservation as a social phenomenon as well as a matter of individual choice," she notes. That doesn't mean they're all museums; several featured houses are privately owned and operated by descendants of the builder or other historically significant occupants, and are thus "celebrating their own heritage as well as that of the community." Ossman writes that "whenever a group of people choose to restore or recreate an historic house for the public, they are reifying values that they believe in."
Ossman also clarifies what she means by the term "Great House." For the purposes of the book, a Great House is "one in which the owner had the economic and intellectual means to construct his home as a vehicle of self-representation," she writes. "The featured houses were selected to represent ideas and concepts that can be applied to an understanding of other houses of the period, especially - but not exclusively - in the South." Not every magnificent mansion is included, of course, and several deserving of the appellation were passed over for more important examples. Of course, wealth played an important part. "The goal of building and decorating a 'great house' (an option available to the wealthiest 5 percent of the population, at most) was almost always to create an architectural expression of personal refinement," Ossman notes. See the gallery for images.
Local Luxury: Sucre-An Easter Hot Spot for Luxurious New Orleans' Chocolate
Filed under: Dining
Sucre, located at 3025 Magazine Street in New Orleans' Garden District, boasts a modern trendy facade with an ice-cream parlor atmosphere, the exception being that macarons, truffles, real gelato, and sorbets can also be consumed at one's pleasure. Founded by Joel Dondis (owner of Joel Catering and Event Planning) in April of 2007, Sucre is a getaway to French desserts and may very well be the best place to stop for a sweeter than sweet tooth. Open from 9am-10pm daily, Sucre offers pastries for breakfast and can bea a perfect late night stop off for the final elegant touch to a whimsical date night.
Desserts are plated and garnished in the most fabulous manner as if you were dining at a five-star restaurant in Paris. "Sucre" means "sugar" in French, and plenty of sugar can be found in their French macarons filled with cream or mousseline. If you have never had the pleasure of experiencing a macaron, you might envision an upscale, fluffy cream-centered Oreo available in a rainbow of colors and a spectrum of exotic flavors.
The Classicist: Cheers to the 1st Ever Independent Champagne Invitational
Filed under: Wine, Events, The Classicist
On April 16th -18th in New Orleans, more than 50 of the nation's top sommeliers will be on hand to pour some of the world's most sought after wines at the Independent Champagne and Sparkling Wine Invitational (ICSWI), the nation's first ever conference devoted exclusively to independently produced champagnes and sparkling wines. Industry experts will educate attendees, pouring wines produced in the grower and independent spirit ranging from the superb high-end cuvées of the Grande Marques to the terroir-driven jewels of the small producers. ICSWI sommeliers will represent cities and regions from across the nation, with restaurant representation including Per Se, The French Laundry, NYC's Eleven Madison Park, Aspen's The Little Nell, and Blue Hill at Stone Barns. All have broad wine industry experience including winemaking, retail, restaurant management and buying for private collectors.
Today, there are over 19,000 independent growers in the Champagne region, accounting for nearly 88% of all vineyard land in the region, with around 5,000 of these growers producing wine from their own grapes. These "fizz farmers" if you will are master artisans, controlling what happens on their farm every day unlike at some of the more large-scale industrial operations at the corporate labels. Worldwide, independent Sparkling Wine production includes Cava in Spain, Asti and Prosecco in Italy, Cap Classique in South Africa, Sekt in Germany and the sparkling wines of California. All together, there are thousands of champagne and sparkling wines to chose from, making the grower category ideal for authenticity, quality, value and ultimately choice. Smaller vineyards allow more site specific wines to be created for a truer reflection of terroir, and their extraordinary attention to detail is reflected in each grower's unique product.
Super Bowl Towns Put Their Art On The Line
Mayors of towns involved in sports conflicts often get into betting deals (usually involving food) but it's not so ordinary to have rival museum directors representing local pride. Art Daily reports that museum directors Maxwell L. Anderson, The Melvin & Bren Simon Director and CEO of the Indianapolis Museum of Art and E. John Bullard, The Montine McDaniel Freeman Director and CEO of the New Orleans Museum of Art have agreed to a Super Bowl wager. The pair began talking via Twitter and have decided that the losing town's museum will make a three-month loan of a significant work of art to the museum in the city whose NFL team wins the Super Bowl on February 7, 2010. Should the Indianapolis Colts win, the landscape painting "Ideal View of Tivoli", 1644, by French artist Claude Lorrain will head from New Orleans to Indianapolis. Should the New Orleans Saints be victorious, "The Fifth Plague of Egypt", 1800, a landscape by British artist J.M.W. Turner will spend a few months in new Orleans. The paintings were decided on after a Twitter war that took trash talking to a new eruidite level.Baron Davis In New Orleans, Estate of the Day
Our friends at Move Trends have pointed out another sports star home on the market. Baron Davis, the NBA All-Star player for the Los Angeles Clippers, picked up a New Orleans home during his time with the Charlotte Hornets when the Hornets moved from Charlotte to New Orleans. His seven-bedroom New Orleans home was once featured on the MTV Cribs show and has its own media room with recording studio and a lavish master suite. The home has a landscaped front garden, secluded pool and an additional third-floor apartment with its own kitchen. The home had a $150,000 price cut in recent weeks and is now listed at $1.7 million.
Tomato Warehouse, Estate of the Day
Filed under: Estates
Today's home in New Orleans, Louisiana is one of the more unusual homes in the French Quarter. The four-bedroom brick warehouse has a courtyard with a small in-ground pool. The compound is over 5,074 square feet and has open rooms and beautiful exposed brick walls. The home includes a bordello-red home theater, bar area, beamed ceilings and a spiral staircase. It is listed at $3.65 million.
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