Auction: Dentelles, Broderies Blanches, Linge de Maison
Date: Wednesday, October 24, 2018
Place: Hôtel Drouot, Salle 2
9 rue Drouot, 75009 Paris
Directions:  http://tinyurl.com/85b78gl
Time: 11:00 – 13:00 lots 1 to 100 (linens)
starting at 14:00, lots 101 to 448 (laces)
Catalogs: http://tinyurl.com/y8okcjgo
ClaudeVuille_LaceSale_October24th_2018 (English version)
Public Viewing:  Tuesday October 23, 2018 11:00 to 18:00
Auction by: Coutau-Bégarie, Mathilde Fellmann +33 (0)1 45 56 12 20
email: information@coutaubegarie.com
Lace expert: Claude Vuille, claude_vu@hotmail.com, 33 (0)6 74 66 39 05

This auction is astonishing, perhaps the best in about 30 years  (Congratulations, Claude!).  This first part is about linens, with some excellent lace pieces (lots 61, 62, 63, 65, 65 for example).
Everything in the laces is worth a look, and the auction includes pieces from Margaret Simeon and other collections.  Here are some that catch my eye:

Lot 122  Point de Gênes border, Iklé collection
Lot 124  Polychrome Buratto border
Lot 135  Panel of Milanese with religious motifs
Lot 140  Sedan collar – I don’t recognize the form, it was probably remade from another piece.
Lot 146  Lappets in 2nd quarter 18th c Belgian needlelace.  Someday I’ll do a piece on the term ‘point de venise a reseau’, which is basically a meaningless name.
Lot 176  Argentan scarf
Lot 199  Excellent Alençon handkerchief
Lot 215  Veil of Brussels bobbinlace applique on droschel ground.
Lot 218  Catalonian blonde black silk mantilla – a wonderful lace, often overlooked.
Lot 223, Bayeaux ombré scarf
Lot 239  Wedding veil of Brussels needlelace applique on machine net.
Lot 242  The Alençon wedding veil, 3rd quarter 19th c.  It doesn’t have a specific provenance, and could be a Lefebure piece, although there were several other firms capabile of doing work of this quality.
Lot 256  A Valenciennes de Gand collar, copy of the one in the Minneapolis Institute of Art.  (I cataloged that piece around 1980, so this one means a lot to me). See also lot 338.
Lot 279 – Bayeux ombré fan leaf.
Lot 283 – Alençon fan
Lot 303 – Rare white Chantilly flounce
Lot 354 – Unusual, extravagent Alençon flounce.  See also Lots 358 and 359.
Lot 363 – Burano flounce, interesting design.
Lot 371 – Point ground flounce, might also be Bucks.

For those not in the USA, the Mega Millions lottery will be up to $1.6 billion with the next drawing on Tuesday, October 23rd. If you win, buy every single piece in this entire auction.

If you wish to purchase any of the lace and cannot come to Paris, there are three ways to do so – these notes are from Claude.

Online bidding with Drouot Live:
If you want to bid by yourself you will have to create an account. Then you will be able to follow the sale with a real time viewing of the auction directly from your computer. You can bid by clicking the appropriate bidding price when the auctioneer reaches the lot you are interested in. If you wish to register for the auction please follow the instructions at http://tinyurl.com/zl5beow to create a Drouot Live Account. You must also register for this specific auction before 9:00 AM, October 24th – go to http://tinyurl.com/ycsx9fwn. The view on your computer has a few seconds delay but the auctioneer is used to it and he will wait a few second when somebody is bidding through the net. This works well as long as the internet equipment has no connection troubles.

Phone bidding:
Otherwise, you can ask to be called when the auctioneer is approaching the particular lot number. A member of the staff will phone you a few minutes before the item will be on sale and you can instruct him to bid on you behalf, in real time.  Both of these possibilities are free of charge and will not have any impact to the final hammer price.

Absentee Bid:
You can also submit an Absentee Bid Form (an order bid) and the auction house will execute it by bidding for you behalf until the price has reached your nominated amount. If bidding doesn’t reach this amount, you win the item for the price at which the bidding ceased. If you are the winner, a member of the staff will send you by email your final invoice. We will send your item to the appropriate postal address as soon as we will get your payment.

Buyer fee’s is 27.60% TTC (23% plus TVA of 20%).