Two pistols belonging to Napoleon Bonaparte, marking the “darkest moment” in the French emperor’s life, have just sold at an auction for 1.69 million euros (roughly C$2.5 million).
The weapons were sold at the Osenat auction house on Sunday in Fontainebleu, ironically located steps away from the palace where the late French emperor attempted suicide after his first abdication in April of 1814.
Parisian gunmaker Louis-Marin Gosset crafted the pistols, initially estimated by the auction house to sell for between 1.2 and 1.5 million euros (about C$1.77 million and C$2.22 million). Gosset constructed the pieces with gold and silver motifs, one with a short barrel and the other long, and decorated them with Napoleon’s profile and imperial emblems.
According to Osenat, Napoleon intended to use the pistols to take his own life on the night of April 12, 1814, after the capitulation of Paris, days prior.
The emperor could not find the gun powder pouch kept with his pistols and resorted to ingesting poison instead – which he survived. Napoleon would die seven years later, in 1821, at 51 years old.
Bonaparte bestowed the two pistols to General Armand de Caulaincourt — the Duke of Vicenza — and they remained in the family for generations. The pair of pistols sold Sunday to an unidentified buyer.
“The two pistols were declared a National Treasure by the French government, the week before, meaning they will have to stay in France,” Raphaël Pitchal of Osenat told CTVNews.ca in an emailed statement.
In November last year, a bicorne hat that supposedly belonged to Napoleon sold for 1.93 million euros in Paris. It was estimated it would sell at 600,000 to 800,000 euros.
With files from Reuters
