A vast collection of artwork and historical items connected to Napoleon Bonaparte, including one of his famous bicorne hats, sold for more than $10 million at an auction in Paris, Sotheby’s announced.
The auction house had initially valued the collection of over 110 Napoleonic artefacts at around $7 million.
The sale featured renowned paintings of the 19th-century French emperor, gilded imperial furniture, and a copy of Napoleon’s marriage certificate to his wife, Josephine.
The extensive trove also included significant relics such as Napoleon’s first will, drafted during his exile on the Atlantic island of Saint Helena, and the sword and staff used in his 1804 coronation at Paris’s Notre Dame Cathedral.
Napoleon was exiled to Saint Helena in 1815 following his defeat by the British at the Battle of Waterloo and died there six years later.
French collector Pierre-Jean Chalencon, known as “Napoleon’s press officer” and a former star of a French antiques TV show, spent four decades amassing the collection.
Starting his passion for collecting at age 13, Chalencon gathered more than 1,000 objects, including a coronation ring and a fragment of Napoleon’s coffin.
In a separate auction in Paris last May, one of Napoleon’s sabres sold for 4.6 million euros, nearly setting a record price for a Napoleonic artefact, underscoring the strong demand and fascination with items related to the French emperor.
