The wonderful thing about vintage jewelry is the history that comes with it. The intricate piece shown here is Empress Eugénie's brooch which was made in 1855 by the Parisian jeweler François Kramer for the French Empress. The brooch was set to be part of the Christie's Eye of a Connoisseur sale which was halted at the last minute due to a court order and a complicated situation involving Fred Leighton owner, Ralph Esmerian and a few outstanding loans from Merrill Lynch. Esmerian was having trouble paying his debts and had to surrender the collateral, his collection. Merrill Lynch tried to cash in the jewels at a Christie's auction in New York but Esmerian was able to block the sale although he had to declare bankruptcy in the process and will sell the pieces privately.
The brooch had a pre-sales estimate of $4 million to $6 million but the Louvre paid close to $11 million, eager to get back a piece of the crown jewels. The brooch was first auctioned off in 1887 when the French government decided the property of French queens and kings would be sold to the highest bidder. The jeweler Emile Schlesinger bought the piece which was originally meant to be a belt buckle and was later turned into a stomacher: a pin that extends from the chest to the waist. Schlesinger bought the piece for Mrs. William Astor and remained in the Astor family for more than 100 years. The Astors were also, for a time, a type of American royalty so this beautiful piece acquired an additional worthy provenance.
Would the piece have been worth less without the history? A piece like this is just the sum of its parts, stones and metal. But it is also so much more, craftsmanship and history and that history was what the Louvre was willing to pay for.
A small town in Switzerland is fighting to be able to do something most town's take for granted: put its name on its wine bottles. Despite the fact that the village has been in existence for over 1000 years, and has been producing wine since at least as far back as The Middle Ages, there's a ban in place keeping the town name of 'Champagne' from appearing on its wine and food labels. A deal struck back in 2004 between the European Union and Switzerland (in order to protect the French wine-producing region of the same name) is to blame, and as a result the poor town of 713 residents has been experiencing steady drops in sales and may even lose jobs in the future. The residents are fighting it, but so far to no avail. Poor Champagne.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is learning that one of the perils of marrying a beautiful model is that nude photos of your wife might easily surface. A black and white nude of the lovely Carla Bruni will be auctioned off to the highest bidder during an auction of the photography collector Gert Elfering at Christie's New York on April 10. The 13 x 10 1/8 inch gelatin silver black and white photograph was taken in 1993 and shows Bruni in all her glory with her hands discretely covering her nether regions (you can see the photo here, but it is not safe for work). The photo was taken by Michel Comte and is expected to bring in $3,000 to $4,000. Comte has said that he has many more pictures of Bruni, some more explicit, but that he will never put them up for sale.
Foul-mouthed chef Gordon Ramsay is ready for what might be the biggest culinary challenge of his life, opening a restaurant in France. Ramsay who has declared his ambition to win win three Michelin stars in London, Paris and New York is opening a brasserie and fine-dining restaurant at the Trianon Palace hotel near the Palace of Vesailles. On the menu will be his usual fare such as blue lobster ravioli with steamed lemongrass and cream of chervil as well as newer more elaborate options such as a take on the English breakfast that includes a stuffed mushroom in an edible puff-pastry spoon, a sliver of bacon and crispy pancetta, a dollop of scrambled egg and white beans in a tomato sauce. French food critics are ready for Ramsay. François Simon at Le Figaro has accused Ramsay of coming to France on the quest for money and has said the the main interest in the restaurant will come from British and American tourists visiting Versailles not the locals. Ramsay's show "Hell's Kitchen" is now on French cable television so perhaps that will help lure the curious.
I've been hearing rumors about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie looking at property in the South of France for at least a year now but this week the gossip seems to have hit critical mass and it looks like this globe-trotting family may really be picking up a French chateau. The property in question ins located in the village of Eygalieres in Provence, France and has the romantic name of Mas de la Chapelle St. Sixte. US Weekly has reported that the Jolie-Pitts had been looking at the property last year but then decided not to purchase because the locals wouldn't let Brad Pitt but in a motorbike track on the over six-acre property. Now that the couple has gotten approval for the track it looks like the deal is back on.
The Telegraph had a great piece in January that covered the story of Mas de la Chapelle St Sixte and provides a sharp little photo gallery of the home in question. The main stone house was built in 1150 by monks and it was where was where Pope Clement VI stayed during the wine harvest in the 14th century. More recently it played host to Vanity Fair editor in chief, Graydon Carter at the high price of £1000 per day. The current owners are Jennifer and James Butler, a writer and a retired TV producer and art collector who fell in love with the historic ruin in 1990. The house had been empty since 1954 and the couple spent six years and a lot of money restoring it in keeping with local traditions. The couple has listed the home for 14 million euros ($22.089 million) partially because the couple were not sure how to divide the home among their nine children. The home has seven bedrooms and five bathrooms which frankly seems a bit tiny for the Jolie-Pitts, their children and their entourage of assistants but what a lovely place to be a bit cramped in.
Posted Mar 2nd 2008 11:05AM by Rigel Gregg Filed under: Wine
We first mentioned Krug's new and highly anticipated single vineyard 1995 Clos d'Ambonnay back in the fall, and although it's not due for release until May Eric Asimov for The New York Times got to take a taste and, according to him, it's "worth every penny." So just how many pennies is he giving the nod to? About 300,000 of them, as the Clos d'Ambonnay is expected to sell for between $3000 and $3500 per bottle.
Will you be springing for a bottle of your own? Money or not, good luck getting your hands on it -- there are only 250 cases in existence.
Going green is permeating more and more parts of manufacturing, business and retail everyday and the French wine industry is no different. To reduce the carbon load incurred during shipping, fifty Languedoc wine producers have been selected to ship their wines via boat to Dublin, Ireland and eventually other locations. The first shipment of wine by sail since the 1800's it is certainly a step in the right direction for the environment. These vessels will also serve as a wine tasting spot -- a chance for the wines to be promoted locally. Compagnie de Transport Maritime a la Voila (CTMV) is making waves bringing 60,000 bottles in the first shipment which will return to France carrying an equivalent weight of crushed glass to be recycled into new wine bottles. Sounds like a win-win to me!
Combier Liqueur d'Orange, the clear and all-natural orange liqueur initially created in 1834, has finally made it to the States. Combier's artisinal crafted orange liqueur is made from fresh orange peels from the West Indies, sugar beets from the fields of Normandy and the family's secret ingredients from the Loire Valley. Combier uses a triple-distillation process distilling the ingredients in the same century-old copper stills first used by the Combier family itself. The liqueur sells for around $40.
The romance between France's president Nicolas Sarkozy and model/singer Carla Bruni has been captivating the gossips lately. The latest news involves a bit of jewelry spotting. Bruni has been seen wearing a heart-shaped Dior ring that is very similar to one owned by his ex-wife Cecilia. The rings are from Dior's Coeur Romantique collection. Sarkozy reportedly gave the the model a pair of earrings from Dior earlier in their courtship. Some have also remarked that the two women are similar in looks, both being angular cheekboned and leggy model brunettes. Many are predicting that the pair will marry soon even though they have only been dating since November.
Paris, France will be home to the world's greenest office building. Skidmore Owings & Merrill has unveiled plans for the Energy Plus building which will be built in the Gennevilliers area of Paris. It will have solar panels covering the roof, more than any other building in the world, and will produce enough electricity to power the heating, lighting and air condition need of the 5,000 tenants. it will even generate carbon credits. The building will be more expensive to construct which will lead to higher rents, but tenants will not have to pay for electricity and the maintenance costs will be lower. The building's cooling system will take water from the Seine and pump it around the offices. The project has the seal of approval from Bill Clinton, who endorsed the project at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting lats year.
French president Nicolas Sarkozy has a lifestyle most celebrities would envy. Not only does he have a gorgeous model girlfriend who used to date rock stars, he also spent his Christmas holiday in Egypt. The French are notoriously tolerant of the leaders' foibles but Sarkozy found himself in a spot of trouble for flying to his getaway on the private jet of a billionaire businessman. Once again, Vincent Bollore is the billionaire in question. After his election in May, Sarkozy celebrated on Bollore's private yacht off Malta. Opposing political parties are concerned that the president's love of the jet set life may lead him into falling under the influence of rich men like Bollore. What's even more interesting is that Bollore, in addition to running a business empire with interests in freight, plastics, energy and logistics, also owns two free newspapers in France and has expressed interest in taking over the French domestic operation of US news agency AP. Sounds like Sarkozy should fly commercial next time.
Getting most people to eat snails is hard enough, but how about snail eggs? Snail's egg caviar is now being sold by a couple of French snail farmers from Soissons, which is located in the Picardie region northeast of Paris. Dominique and Sylvie Pierru are French entrepreneurs who own a snail farm and spent the last three years learning how to harvest the eggs from their 50,000 gasteropods and developing a method of processing and tenderizing the eggs. The caviar from snails is small and cream colored with a woodsy taste.
The Pierrus have already sold 400 jars of the caviar which sells for around $115 per 50 grams, which is not much different than the cost of sturgeon egg caviar. The caviar, which is unpasteurized, lasts for three months. Everything from the harvesting to the cleaning and sorting is done by hand which also contributes to the price.
The threat of a Champagne shortage and the recent decision to consider expanding the Champagne grape-growing region might be good for one small French city. The Wall Street Journal tells the story of the town of Péas, which in the 1950s decided to stop growing grapes and turn toward other agricultural pursuits such as wheat and potatoes. Legend has it that when the mayor at the time found out that his city was eligible to seek inclusion in the champagne grape-growing region, he threw the letter away.
Huge mistake. A hectare (around 2.5 acres) of agricultural land in Péas is valued at less than $9,000 while a hectare of land that can be used to grow grapes for Champagne can be worth almost $1.5 million. What a difference one letter could have made.
But Péas may be getting a second chance to earn that Champagne money with the plans to expand the regions boundaries. As you might imagine, the town is rather excited about the prospect. They will have a long wait though, the first new vineyards probably won't be planted until 2015, with a first harvest in 2017. For now, all we can do is wish Péas bonne chance.
The latest version of Martell Cognac was recently launched with a party at the Palace of Versailles. Why there? Because their latest limited edition is the Château de Versailles Exclusive Edition. The limited-edition VSOP will be sold in a bottle with the Versailles Sun King motif and comes in a box that opens out into the shape of a golden flower. It will first be sold exclusively by travel retailer DFS Group in the new Singapore Changi Terminal 3, which opens in January 2008 for $99 Singapore dollars. The Moodie Report has a lovely slideshow of the Versailles launch.
Yesterday's estate was a modern version of a French chateau. Today's version is the real deal, a 17th century Chateau which was shipped to the United States in the 1920's. It now sits on 6.7 acres in Upper Brookville, NY. The listing says that the seven-bedroom chateau which measures 6,800 square feet has been renovated for today's living, but we'll have to take their word for it since there aren't any interior pics. The outside is pretty fantastic though with all sorts of antique stone details.
The NY Times did a story on this home when it was listed at $6.995 million last year. it turns out that the home is from the village of Les Petits Thons in the Vosges area of France, about 120 miles from Dijon. Ashbel H. Barney, part of an old New York family, shipped an entire wing of the Château des Thons, to New York. Rumor has it that this is where Voltaire carried out his affair with Madame de Chatelet but that turns out to be a myth. If the home looks familiar you might have seen it in the background of ads advertising various products. It is now listed at $5.995 million.
The wonderful thing about vintage jewelry is the history that comes with it. The intricate piece shown here is Empress Eugénie's brooch which was made in 1855 by the Parisian jeweler François Kramer for the French Empress. The brooch was set to be part of the Christie's Eye of a Connoisseur sale which was halted at the last minute due to a court order and a complicated situation involving Fred Leighton owner, Ralph Esmerian and a few outstanding loans from Merrill Lynch. Esmerian was having trouble paying his debts and had to surrender the collateral, his collection. Merrill Lynch tried to cash in the jewels at a Christie's auction in New York but Esmerian was able to block the sale although he had to declare bankruptcy in the process and will sell the pieces privately.
