The end of it very remote thing. In early December, was found a series of grand larceny, which is "terribly damaging" the image of Drouot - says Patrick de Beizer, an expert on the chart. The eight commissioners, who are responsible for transportation and storage of items offered for bid, are under investigation, three of them - in custody. They are charged with criminal conspiracy, theft and organized fencing. One auctioneer, Eric Kodron, is under investigation with the prohibition to carry out their professional activities.

Investigators examining hundreds, if not thousands of objects found at home or in the commissioners of their containers. Among this heterogeneous collection of objects have been discovered one small marina Courbet, estimated between 50000 and 100000 euros, and lithographs by Chagall. "Le Monde" has information that among these items, there are many works of art, the price of each of which exceeds the estimate of Courbet. Some of these works of art appear in the register of the National Office to combat theft of cultural property, which is just instructed to conduct investigations. Already found the names of the defrauded owners.

Were analyzed in detail the bank accounts of each of the 105 commissioners Drouot, and found an extremely large amount of money that does not blend with their official income - between 3000 and 4000 euros. Each commissioner has a personal container in Courbevoie (a suburb of Paris) in 6 m3. These containers were sealed. To date, 8 containers were inspected.

The subject of judicial investigation is the work of carriers, united in the Union commissioners Hotel Drouot (Skoda). Found so many abuses that it is possible that the legal personality of Skoda is a criminal case. If this happens, Skoda will simply cease to exist. When we tried to get interviews from the individuals concerned, they hid behind the shy smile. But the person is currently under investigation, not silent, they tell a lot. And they said, all in the Drouot knew what was happening.

The investigation tries to establish a conspiracy between the auctioneers, as they have sold a significant number of stolen items, and sometimes very valuable. Drouot Holding, which owns the building, and capital, which is jointly owned by 110 auctioneers, wanted to sue. The judges refused to accept it. "They do not want us to have access to the case, because they think it hurt the investigation" - say in Drouot.

How is this possible? We interviewed approximately twenty Marchand and auctioneers. They describe the system, which lacks clarity, and sales network, an organization which blagotvorstvuet conflicts of interest. To understand what happened, you need to know the specifics Drouot. Big y the first part auction items are offered for sale as a result of inheritance. Among these items are valuable things, sometimes you can even make a great discovery, but basically, this "druovschina. Paintings, chests, wine, silverware ... "Drouot helps people to vacate their apartments from the jar" - explains Eric and Pascal Marchand, owners of the auction house Rossini.

In sales there are not only lovers of art, many professionals - Marshal, junkman, booksellers - regularly attend auctions. Herein lies the charm of the hotel Drouot - noise, fun, relaxed and democratic tamosfera, very different from the "jet-setovskoy, snobbish side of the art market, and this atmosphere is characterized by Drouot since 1850, however, for it hides the custom dubious, also inherited from XIX century.

Even if the art lover can be mainly satisfied with their acquisitions, sometimes he has reason to consider themselves deceived. One collector says that buying a lot of several dozen books and pay for it, he discovered that one of them disappeared from the box. Often, instead of compete with each other in the auction, the marshal conspire: one is buying, and then in a bistro around the corner is a division and the remuneration of cash - such actions are prohibited.

Status 110 commissioners is another curious. This corporation, founded in 1832, has a form of self-rule society with the collective name. This means that to get rid of black sheep within the enterprise there is no possibility. These commissioners called the "Savoyard" because historically they were from this region (Savoy), or "red collars" on their uniform - black jacket with red collar on which is printed a number of each of them. In addition, each has its own nickname - Vidocq, Pig, etc.

In fact, they have a monopoly on the Drouot in many activities: it is they take out of the apartments are things that will be put up for auction, putting them in the halls of Drouot to prior examination, represent them during the bidding process, stockpiling them. Many believe that the commissioners needed: "They work 60 hours a week, quickly and well, they are the executive and not lazy" - said the auctioneer Claude Agyut. But then he adds: "They are rude to customers and they are very expensive."

Another interesting feature: these carriers have the status of a merchant, allowing them for a long time to buy and sell Drouot - now, after the discovery of abuse, they are banned. But before buying for a third person was commonplace. "Some of the commissioners fourfold increase their incomes" - commented one of the auctioneer.

Auctioneer Daniel Nordman outraged: "It has long been Drouot had to take measures to put an end to such actions, because they also warned. Mr. Nordman filed after the disappearance of items with a total price of 20000 euros during transport. Some of these items was found in a container of "red collar". Colleague nordmanniana, Claude Agyut, also shares his memories: "In 1990, someone stole my truck up to the top scored Galle vases. The commission went into a bistro, drink and left the car keys at the bar. Do not they themselves organized theft? The police investigation did not yield any results. " When asked whether applied any sanctions on otnoshenibyu to those the commission, he says that very doubt it.

Almost all participants Drouot heard of any impropriety, but nobody thought that they reached this magnitude. "Most sales take place without incident, auctioneers do their job, complaints of theft is very rare, each item is photographed, the image is placed on the site Drouot.fr. In general, the Hotel Drouot is working quite well "- says one of the auctioneers.

This is not enough, meet another group, headed by the Claude Agyut, a prominent member of the variable is destroyed, whose annual turnover in 2009 reached 32 million euros. Assuming that the authorities Drouot slow in reaction after the scandal broke, he sent his colleagues a letter in which he wrote: "In the XXI-st century can not work methods XIX-th. "Our work must become more transparent, we must be perfect, we must cleanse this place because it is dirty, increase security, improve the reception of customers. If we do not sreagiruem soon fall on our heads the other problems "- he adds.

Another problem: "The quality of items all the time decreases, and the Drouot has lost its former prestige" - says Patricia plya, antiquary. Fierce competition from Christie's and Sotheby's, which since 2001 had the opportunity to organize auctions in France, exacerbates this phenomenon.

All auctioneers together hate each other, but there is one point on which they are unanimous - everyone wants to preserve its independence. This explains the fact that the profession is fragmented, it consists mainly of microscopic auction houses. There are some larger houses - the obi are the holders of much of the capital Drouot. In short, this ship is not easy to manage, especially when you consider that the president is chosen partners. On the other hand, why worry when they have a Newspaper Drouot, a weekly, without which it can not do any art lover, who scored commercials and brings millions of euros, is more than offsetting a small deficit of home sales? Gazeta Drouot - a cash cow Drouot "- chorus explain all our interlocutors.

February 3, President Drouot auction house, Georges Delettr, announced the changes in the functioning of society Drouot. Among these measures - the appointment of the CEO, vested with broad powers. Another sensitive issue - provision auctioneer, who are both shareholders and customers Drouot, 16-rooms and sales. More and more auctioneers are inclined to organize outside the Hotel Drouot auction. Antoine Godeau, vice-president of the Pierre Berge & Partners, said that he was not opposed to open in Paris on his own room sales.

In 2001, Pierre Berge, wanted to buy hotel Drouot. He invited forty auctioneer to join him. So he thought to create a company capable of competing with Christie's and Sotheby's. His project failed, almost none of the auctioneer did not want to "dissolve" your name "brands Drouot". Now he does not hide his sarcasm: "How is it possible that nobody has found these thefts? Here's what happens when the trading company practically managed. Everything in this little world to cover each other. Of course, the commissioners had accomplices among the auctioneers. If my project "big Drouot" was implemented, this could not happen, I would have brought order there.

Michelle Guerin and Carolina Вижан

Note: the word "hotel" in this case means not a hotel, a mansion. But since the phrase "Hotel Drouot" very aware, I left the French term.