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“Forgotten” war Cognac heads charity auction
A “forgotten” Cognac hidden from the Nazis during the Second World War is among the lots poised to make nearly €80,000 for charity in a forthcoming auction.
©BNIC / Albane de Roffignac
The Part des Anges charity auction has raised €300,000 in the six years it has been running, offering an array of exceptional and unique bottles donated by Cognac houses large and small.
This year, the sale on 20 September at Château Chesnel, on the banks of the Charente near Cognac, includes 26 lots, estimated to be worth a total of €79,680.
Among their number is a 1920s Cognac Gastronome from Godet, hidden from the Nazis in 1942 when Jean Godet’s company was seized because of his Resistance activities.
Named Godet War Treasury, the original 1920s bottle was concealed by the then cellarmaster on Jean Godet’s orders, but lost when he was killed in the war and only rediscovered when the company moved premises in 2005.
Kept in perfect conditions with no light or air, and perfect humidity and temperature, the bottle has been filtered and re-corked by Jean-Edouard Godet this year, and has a pre-sale estimate of €2,700.
Prince Hubert de Polignac’s 888 Trunk – a Cognac and poker trunk created by Paris-based T T Trunks – has the highest pre-sale estimate at €9,000, followed by Hennessy Réserve Spéciale at €8,000.
Other lots include Frapin Baccarat Royal Eagle at €6,500, Leyrat Partage no 1 (€5,200) and Courvoisier Réserve Edward VII – made from Cognac lots created for the English monarch – at €4,500.
The proceeds from the sale will go to the Order of Malta, a charity founded 900 years ago and involved in running hospices and humanitarian aid projects all over the world.