Beaune (France) (AFP)

Despite the health and economic crises, the 160th Hospices de Beaune (Côte d'Or) sale on Sunday set a new record with a "charity coin" sold to a Chinese for 780,000 euros, an unparalleled amount of which the proceeds will go entirely to hospital workers victims of Covid-19.

"All over the world, hospital workers have left their health and sometimes their lives for us. At the Hospices Civils de Beaune, nearly 100 professionals have been infected and one of them, Marie-Cécile, is no longer there. ", launched François Poher, director of the Hospices, in a preamble to the oldest charitable wine auctions in the world, which began around 2 p.m.

"Today, you are there for them", he added, before the singer Marc Lavoine, godfather of the auctions intervening in videoconference, does not declare the auctions "officially open", triggering a succession of figures and blows hammer.

"We would like to pay tribute to all the caregivers, in France and around the world, who are fighting day and night against this epidemic," said the buyer, a Chinese who wanted to remain anonymous and had given a mandate to the Bichot house , traditionally the first buyer of the sale.

"We will overcome this human ordeal," added the Chinese buyer to a concert of applause.

To push the bidding, Marc Lavoine had agreed to give a guitar to the winner of the auction and to have lunch with him.

"The caregivers we applauded in the spring, I do not forget them," he said.

"It is with great emotion that I wish to warmly thank the generous buyers and donors of the famous charity coin" which has reached a "historic" amount, responded Frédéric valletoux, president of the Hospital Federation of France (FHF) .

"55,000 hospital workers have been affected by the virus but this figure is largely underestimated. 18 died, but it is also underestimated", had indicated shortly before the sale Denis Valzer, administrator of the Management Committee of social works (CGOS) of public hospitals, responsible for distributing the proceeds from the sale of the charity coin.

In addition to the "charity coin", 629 barrels were auctioned: in total, 12.776 million euros were collected (free of charge), a very slight decline (-0.75%) compared to 2019, enough to do deny fears of seeing the sale tarnished by the crisis and procrastination concerning its performance.

Facing the auctioneer Cécile Verdier, the rows were indeed sparse in the Halles de Beaune.

Initially scheduled for November 15, then suspended, authorized again and finally postponed until Sunday, the sale is certainly a miracle of the Covid-19, but the distancing rules have limited the number of buyers present on site to 171, compared to the usual 600.

About 140 buyers were however connected by phone or internet and about thirty others signed written auctions, said Aline Sylla-Wallbaum, general manager of the Luxury division at Christie's, who organized the sale.

"All in all, the turnout is good," she said.

All the funds collected, in addition to the proceeds of the "charity coin" which traditionally goes to a separate charity, is used to finance the investments and work in progress of the hospital of a thousand beds managed by the Hospices, an institution founded in 1443 to help the "poor sick".

A philanthropic reason for being largely confirmed by the current pandemic.

"The health context gives this sale an unprecedented symbolic significance", underlines François Poher, director of the Hospices Civils de Beaune.

© 2020 AFP