Contents of Paris's Crillon Hotel Sold

Paris auctioneers Artcurial sold the furniture and fixtures of the historic Crillion Hotel for a total of $7.8 million.  This was six times the opening bid amount and all 4,000 lots were sold.  Half were sold through internet bidding.  The sale shows that collectors are willing to pay a premium for items with history or from a known collection.  Perhaps the beginning estimates were low to start out with, but you certainly cant argue with the end results.

Bloomberg reports on the sale

An auction of furniture and fixtures from Paris’s historic Crillon hotel raised 6 million euros ($7.8 million), six times the starting prices.

All 4,000 lots were sold, auctioneers Artcurial said in a statement. Half the sales took place over the Internet.

The 100-year-old hotel, which housed General Eisenhower after the 1944 Liberation of Paris and has hosted Madonna and the Shah of Iran, auctioned off beds, curtains, wine and china to help fund a two-year renovation.

The highest price was 324,800 euros for 5-meter long art- deco bar designed by French sculptor Cesar, with bidding starting at 10,000 euros. The hotel restaurant’s hanging sign, for which bidding started at 200 euros, sold for 26,000 euros.

A dessert cart went for 20,800 euros and the concierge’s mail boxes for 11,000 euros.

The auction took 40 hours over five days, with 2,000 people in the room and 2,700 bidding on the web. The lots, mostly Louis XV and Napoleon III style furniture, was on display for five days in the hotel, attracting 25,000 viewers.

Source: Bloomberg