Elegant French tea and coffee service with silvery metal sides, tinted wooden handle. Coffee maker, a teapot, a milk jug and a sugar bowl. Rectangular rosewood tray with an ice base. Art Deco style

Normandy liner, 1939 tea time. All the passengers of the ship meet at this time to share the latest rumours, discuss the stock market, or the conflict that is starting in Europe. All this, over tea or coffee served in white gloves, in beautiful cup. The butlers circulate in the splendid first-class lounge, with its rich decoration in the most beautiful art deco style. The teapot and coffee pot are even mesmerizing: everything is dazzling. Nobody knows that the newly inaugurated gleaming ship is living its last years… Sunk by a torpedo? A mine? No, it will be devastated by a fire in port, which will take all the rich art deco collections of the liner with it. This service is the perfect example of luxury and innovation lost.

Stories do not necessarily correspond to reality. They are only given to illustrate a possible context of origin.