Puttin’ on the Ritz (Auction) – The New York Times

PARIS — Ernest Hemingway would have been amused.

A 10-foot leather sofa that had once graced the Hemingway Bar, the watering hole at the Ritz in Paris where he and F. Scott Fitzgerald drank, was speeding on wheels across the concrete floor of a cavernous unheated warehouse outside of Paris. The interior designer Vincent Darré, dressed in A.P.C. black trousers, an Eglé Bespoke custom-made blazer, a Ralph Lauren shirt and a Charvet tie, was along for the ride.

“Da, da, da, da,” he caroled, as a French television crew filmed him. “It’s the Hemingway couch. Let me through!”

On April 12, the Ritz Hotel Paris will auction off a part of its 120-year history. Hospitality (and Hemingway) lovers from around the world will have the chance to bid on furniture, carpets, drapes, artwork, antiques, china, glassware, sculptures and odds and ends, all rendered part of history when the hotel underwent a four-year, $400 million renovation before reopening in 2016.