A piece of broken ceiling that holds very special value is up for sale.
The cracked and punctured fragment was taken from the iconic Darcy’s Restaurant — which was located in Sydney’s Paddington until its closure in 2013 — and features the signatures of Hollywood legends Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe.
Back in 2001, Crowe was at Darcy’s celebrating his Best Actor Academy Award for Ridley Scott’s Gladiator.
The New Zealand-born actor had invited several notable guests, including Kidman, for the boozy night.
But amongst the cheers and laughs, Crowe’s Oscar statuette was pierced through the ceiling of the upstairs dining area after a partygoer jumped on one of the tables and raised it above his head.
Instead of paying for the damage, one guest suggested Kidman, now 57, and Crowe, now 60, autograph the damaged area.
Former Darcy’s owner Attilio Marinangeli told AFR that he was happy for the actors to climb up and ‘sign the ceiling in marker pen’.
‘Russell had quite a few friends there,’ Marinangeli said, adding it was ‘quite a long night’ and ‘everyone ordered scampi’.
A piece of broken ceiling signed by Russell Crowe (left) and Nicole Kidman (right) is up for sale
Crowe signed his name along with the word ‘Amore’, the Italian meaning for love.
The piece of history was later cut down from the ceiling before it was framed and hung behind the front desk of the Sydney restaurant right up until its closure years later.
It has a pre-sale estimate of $800 to $1,500 in Davidson Auctions and will go to auction in Sydney at 11am on Saturday, July 20.
Marinangeli owned and managed Darcy’s from 1975 to 2013.
The cracked and punctured fragment features the signatures of the Hollywood legends
The piece of ceiling is from the iconic Darcy’s Restaurant — which was located in Sydney ‘s Paddington until its closure in 2013
The corner block premises now holds Ursula’s restaurant.
Other major celebrities that visited the neighbourhood institution were Sarah Ferguson, Frank Sinatra and his wife at the time Barbara in 1991.
Crowe was known to have regularly frequent the former A-list venue and even popped the question to his now-ex-wife Danielle Spencer ‘at table 21, his regular spot at the restaurant’, per the AFR.
Back in 2001, Crowe was at Darcy’s celebrating his Best Actor Academy Award for Ridley Scott’s Gladiator. Pictured: Russell Crowe with his Oscar for Best Actor for his role in Gladiator
The couple married in April 2003 during a ceremony at his farm in Nana Glen.
The Australian stars welcomed two sons together, Charles, 20, and Tennyson, 18, but went their separate ways in 2012 and finalised their divorce six years later.
Crowe is now rumoured to be engaged to girlfriend Britney Theriot, 31.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk