The Michelin Man at auction – Pierre Gabriel Gonzalez

Everything you always wanted to know about the true value of Michelin Guides… An extraordinary story with international resonance, a quarter of a century of auctions based on collections of Red Guides and Michelin objects by the Clermont-Ferrand auction house. The backdrop was the extremely rare 1900 edition. In July 2000, three-starred chef Pierre Troisgros snapped it up for €5,335. This collectors’ Holy Grail will fetch €28,000 in 2022… The first edition of the Michelin Red Guide was not the only one to set auctions alight: the 1901 to 1907 vintages, the “de luxe” 1902, etc., also set records. Records were also set. For example, the 1939 copies, reissued by the American army to accompany the soldiers who landed in Normandy in June 1944 to liberate France, along with their maps of the towns… Or the extremely rare 1904 Guide Rouge “grandes marges”, which sold for €33,000 in 2021 and €47,000 the following year! Tasty anecdotes and collectors’ testimonials help to decipher their passion for the Red Guides and, more generally, for Michelin advertising objects. Book format: 25 x 16.8 x 1.5 cm French edition