Upward spiral
After a restaurant diner had to buy his own corkscrew, he couldn’t stop, writes John Vincent.
When hotelier Francois Touzin took his Swedish girlfriend Mia for an early evening meal at a bring-your-own Italian restaurant in London he came armed with a decent bottle of claret. With no alcohol licence, the eaterie somewhat absurdly failed to possess a corkscrew. So the resourceful Monsieur Touzin took his leave and walked up the street to find an antiques shop still open. He spotted a vintage opener in the window, paid £4 for it and strolled back to enjoy supper with his future wife.
That incident in 1976 sparked a lifelong passion which led the Frenchman to assemble one of the world’s finest collections of corkscrews. Now Touzin, who has worked in senior management at some of the world’s leading hotels, is parting with roughly two-thirds of his 600-strong haul, which dates back to the 1700s.
Every type of corkscrew is included, with many made from steel, wood, bone, silver, ivory or gold, and the sale is expected to fetch more than £20,000 at Special Auction Services in Newbury, Berkshire, on September 14, with prices ranging from £60-£600.
Isn’t it a wrench parting with them? “Well, they are things of beauty and very difficult to make,” Mr Touzin, who lives in London, told me.
“So it was a bit like asking if I’d like to lose my left hand or my right... what to sell and what to keep.”
But he hasn’t given up collecting, buying an 1880s corkscrew in France recently and two days later a small, picnic specimen at a car boot sale. “You never know, if the auction does well I may sell some more...” One thing’s for certain though, he won’t be parting with that first one he bought in 1976.
Highlights of the sale include The Empire, a 19th century double-lever model by Heeley & Sons of Birmingham (est. £500-£550); a two-column rack and pinion corkscrew with bone handle and hanging ring (£370-£450); an 18th century English silver-sheathed specimen by Samuel Pemberton, Birmingham 1784 (£250-£300); and an American 1930s Syroco Wood table model called The Monk (£200-£250).
Novelty ones include a German late 19th century folding “Lady’s Legs” (£180£200), a 1920s English “Fat Huntsman” (£60-£80) and a pair of Italian corkscrews in the form of barman and waiter each carrying three pints of beer (£70-£90).
Oxford cleric Samuel Henshall obtained the world’s first patent for a corkscrew in 1795, collaborating with engineer and manufacturer Matthew Boulton (1728-1809) to bring the device to market. Earliest reference dates to 1681 when a museum catalogue describes “a steel worme used for the drawing of Corks out of Bottles”. Corkscrews, once called bottlescrews, were modelled on a tool of war: gun worms, metal claws to clear bullets and wadding from the barrels of misfiring muskets.
Antique corkscrews are becoming increasingly popular. In 2000, a mid-18th century English silver specimen fetched £18,400 at Christie’s.