A pale, cracked felt hat worn by Napoléon Bonaparte fetched $1.6 million at an public sale Sunday of the French emperor’s belongings
ByThe Related Press
November 19, 2023, 2:03 PM
A customer watches one of many signature broad, black hats that Napoléon wore when he dominated nineteenth century France and waged conflict in Europe on show at Osenat’s public sale home in Fontainebleau, south of Paris, Friday, Nov. 17, 2023. The hat is tipped to fetch greater than half 1,000,000 euros ({dollars}) on the public sale Sunday of Napoleonic memorabilia patiently collected by a French industrialist. (AP Picture/Christophe Ena)
The Related Press
PARIS — A pale and cracked felt hat worn by Napoléon Bonaparte fetched $1.6 million at an public sale Sunday of the French emperor’s belongings
Sure, $1.6 million.
The signature broad, black hat — certainly one of a handful nonetheless in existence that Napoléon wore when he dominated nineteenth century France and waged conflict in Europe — was initially valued at 600,000 to 800,000 euros ($650,000-870,000). It was the centerpiece of Sunday’s public sale in Fontainebleau of memorabilia collected by a French industrialist who died final 12 months.
However the bidding shortly jumped increased and better till Jean Pierre Osenat, president of the Osenat public sale home, designated the winner.
‘’We’re at 1.5 million (euros) for Napoleon’s hat … for this main image of the Napoleonic epoch,” he stated. The identify of the profitable bidder was not launched.
Whereas different officers usually wore their hats with the wings dealing with entrance to again, Napoléon wore his with the ends pointing towards his shoulders. The model — generally known as “en bataille,” or in battle — made it simpler for his troops to identify their chief in fight.
The hat on sale was first recovered by Col. Pierre Baillon, a quartermaster beneath Napoléon, in line with the auctioneers. The hat then handed via many palms earlier than industrialist Jean-Louis Noisiez acquired it.
The entrepreneur spent greater than a half-century assembling his assortment of Napoleonic memorabilia, firearms, swords and cash earlier than his dying in 2022.