More Munich is hardly possible, more Bavaria not either. Heinrich Graf von Spreti celebrates his 70th birthday on Wednesday in a beautiful building with a view of the Hofgarten, and everyone came. Also Franz Duke of Bavaria, who himself celebrates a milestone birthday two days later – on July 14, his ninetieth.
The two men are not only connected by nobility. Spreti, the auctioneer and author, loves art like Franz von Bayern and he also promotes, donates and is involved in countless good, often cultural causes. One of them is the AIDS organization. But an evening like this is different. That the Spretis always have a bit of Italy in them, for example, the country that Ludwig I was so enthusiastic about and to which all Munich residents with a sense of beauty still like to dream, at least with a plate of pasta and a glass Lugano.
But the evening is more characterized by Spumante, golden-yellow sparkle, as the Spretis originally come from the most golden Ravenna. And Heinrich Spreti is only here because one of them was sent to the Kurbayerischer Hof as a page at the age of eight. Sotheby’s, whose Germany location has had a significant impact on Spreti, sponsors the festival for almost 45 years, most recently as President and after officially retiring to this day as “Honorary Chairman”. When Heinrich committed himself to British art auctioneers at the age of just 24, this aroused the displeasure of parts of the family. If only the path mapped out for a young man like himself had been that of a lawyer, or at least a clergyman.
Neither fits Spreti, at least not as perfectly as what came instead. Because nobility does not only oblige. Adel sometimes has to part with something. And of what, Heinrich von Spreti always knew very well thanks to his Europe-wide network, available by birth and great charm. His legendary reputation as an auctioneer was based on the liquidation of a great, secret passion: in 1990 he brought under the hammer the valuable antique jewelery that the British King Edward VII had given to his lover, a certain Mrs. George Keppel.
He auctioned off a snuff box for 2.53 million Swiss francs
Even more emotional for some: Spreti launched a snuff box that belonged to Frederick the Great, which set a world auction record price for a tobacco box at 2.53 million Swiss francs. In 1993 he then played a decisive role as “The Princely Collection Thurn und Taxis”, 1995 as “The Collection of the Margraves of Baden” was auctioned. Both gave Sotheby’s record sales of 31 and 78 million German marks.
The auction he arranged for “Art Works of the Royal House of Hanover” even lasted more than ten days, and in 2005 more than 20,000 objects came up for auction. This largest house auction in Sotheby’s history ended with a record result of 44 million euros.
Heinrich von Spreti, who in terms of art history could go back to the Romanesque period on his family tree – the first “Spreti” is officially mentioned in 1190 – loves historical biographies. On behalf of the descendants of Empress Sisi, he once auctioned off objects from their personal estate in Munich for a good cause. The most expensive lot at the time was a silver table centerpiece for 230,000 German marks, made for the wedding of Sisi’s daughter to a Bavarian prince. “A rare stroke of luck in the life of every expert,” says Spreti himself, for example, when he rediscovered the Romanov estate, which had been lost for more than 90 years.
But one could also call it a rare stroke of luck that Heinrich Graf von Spreti is not only good with numbers, but also very good with words. He has just once again contributed text and finances so that a book can be published about artists, the military and aristocrats who moved from Italy to Bavaria. Including a certain Page.