Presidential pickings

“Chapeau” as they say over here, to France’s Socialist party. It has managed to put aside its internal spats for a moment and splash out a mere €10,000 on……a hat.

But it’s not just any old hat. It is in fact the symbol of a recent past when the party was still a credible political force and comfortably installed in both the country’s presidential and prime-ministerial offices.

It belonged to none other than the former president, François Mitterrand, and was one of the top bid items at Tuesday’s auction of his personal effects.

More than 300 people crowded into the Salle de Tajan in Paris to bid on the 368 items put up for sale by Mitterrand’s widow, Danielle.

The motley bunch included many party activists hungry for a bit of Socialist memorabilia and nostalgic for a bygone era. There were also the simply curious wondering what treasures Mitterrand had squirreled away during the years when he was France’s longest-serving president from 1981-1995.

Then there were of course the bargain hunters ready to make a killing on quality clothes, and antiques dealers looking for good deals which they could then pass on at marked up prices.

And there was basically something for everyone; shed loads of suits, apparently typically Mitterrand clothing paraphernalia and the usual books, pictures and furniture that might have been expected.

All going under the hammer for a good cause and, in the process, raising the princely sum of €150,000 for Danielle Mitterrand’s human rights charity, France-Libertés.

As well as THE hat – a recognisable emblem to many, of the Mitterrand years, and for which the party was prepared to pay 100 times the estimated price - another top seller was an ermine-lined barrister’s robe, a mere snip at €8,000 – kept in the profession so-to-speak by a lawyer.

Then was yet another hat – a chapka – which made actor/director, Alain Chabat “crack” and for which along with a box of personalised cigars, he was willing to cough up €5,000.

While Chabat was undoubtedly expressing the sentiment of many present that he was bidding because the Mitterrand years had been an important period of French history and he wanted his own little keepsake from that era, the motives of some others were far more questionable.

One young party member for example bought more than 30 suits so he could dress up his collection of wooden dummies – perhaps at some point to display them as a work of art, who knows?

Two more suits were scooped up by the municipal museum of the northwestern town of La Hay, which plans to show them at its “Ideal Man” exhibition at the end of July.
Then there was the woman who took home armfuls of hats, scarves and shoes, which she said she would pass on to Socialist-voting friends as future presents. With friends like that!

And isn’t there just something a little strange about shelling out €1,000 for a pair of slippers – even if they are Church’s. Maybe someone has pretensions of parading around the house with presidential footsteps.

Every time the hammer went down on yet another symbol of the Mitterrand years there was a polite round of applause, much to the consternation of some for whom the auction lacked the appropriate solemnity.

Next up presumably, will be Jacques Chirac, but for the moment he’s alive and kicking so it could be a few years yet. And then there is of course the “bling bling” presidency of the current incumbent, Nicolas Sarkozy, which promises to throw up some gorgeous jewels – in say….30 or 40 years time.

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