Train set and other objects belonging to Charles de Gaulle sold at auction
The auction comes after a historical exhibition that included ‘the most important manuscript in French history’ as well as a vintage train set from the Soviet Union
The pre-auction exhibition included the 1940 ‘Appeal’ manuscript of June 18 (although this itself is not available for sale)
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Manuscripts and personal items belonging to wartime hero and former French President Général Charles de Gaulle are among those being sold at auction in Paris today (Monday, December 16).
The auction at Maison Artcurial has 372 lots in total, of which most are manuscripts. But some are much more intriguing.
Among them is a vintage train set, which was given to de Gaulle’s grandchildren by former Prime Minister of the Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev when he visited France in 1960. It includes beautiful inscriptions in Cyrllic, the ‘alphabet’ used to write Russian.
The train set is beginning at a starting price of €2,000. It has been a major part of a pre-auction exhibition that has been open to the public.
Other items of historical significance in the exhibition (some of which are also part of the auction) include a collection of short stories written by the general when he was just 14 years old, two badges bearing the Free French Forces insignia, French military medals, a watch, a tin soldier kept by his son, poems from his youth, and his baccalaureate diploma certificate.
Many of the objects and papers belonging to the General were previously kept by his son, Admiral Philippe de Gaulle, who died in April this year at the age of 102.
Among the items offered for sale are manuscripts, including that of the young de Gaulle’s first book, La Discorde chez l'ennemi, published in 1924. This item has the highest estimate in the auction, and will reach between €50,000 and €60,000, Artcurial has said (reports TF1).
‘The most important manuscript in French history’
The highlight of the exhibition is a document from 1940. “This is the most important manuscript in French history. It's the manuscript of June 18. With very dense, very fine writing, lots of erasures, lots of repentance... That's how he wrote,” said Stéphane Aubert, auctioneer at Artcurial, to FranceInfo.
June 18 refers to the ‘Appeal of June 18’, when de Gaulle made his first address to the people of France, calling for people to join him in the fight against Germany, after his arrival in London in 1940.
Although not widely heard at the time, it is now considered to be one of the most important speeches in French history, and seen as the official start of the French resistance.
Read more: Brittany island honoured for role after de Gaulle’s June 18 BBC appeal
Read also: President Macron to visit London in memory of wartime ‘call’
Yet, this document is not among the items for sale in the auction itself, due to its national significance.
The auction will begin this afternoon at the auction house.
‘The chance to touch history’
The pre-auction exhibition also included private letters written by wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and famous American-born French dancer, actress and Resistance fighter Josephine Baker.
“This is the most historic estate I've ever done,” said Mr Aubert. “It's a chance to touch history through all these documents, the whole epic of General de Gaulle, from his childhood to his death in Collombey-les-Deux-Eglises.”
“What was extraordinary was that he already saw himself as a general [in his stories],” said Mr Aubert. “He spoke of himself as General de Gaulle, at the head of an army of 300,000 men. And he's going to fight the enemy, the Germans.”
Many of Charles de Gaulle's existing archives have been donated to the Bibliothèque nationale (France’s national library) in a nod to their national significance, and part of the proceeds from the sale will go to the disability charity la Fondation Anne de Gaulle.
