PARIS – A light and cracked felt hat worn by Napoléon Bonaparte fetched $1.6 million at an auction Sunday of the French emperor’s belongings
Yes, $1.6 million.
The signature vast, black hat — one of a handful nonetheless in life that Napoléon wore when he ruled 19th century France and waged conflict in Europe — was once to begin with valued at 600,000 to 800,000 euros ($650,000-870,000). It was once the centerpiece of Sunday’s auction in Fontainebleau of memorabilia gathered by a French industrialist who died closing 12 months.
But the bidding temporarily jumped upper and better till Jean Pierre Osenat, president of the Osenat auction area, designated the winner.
‘’We are at 1.5 million (euros) for Napoleon’s hat … for this main image of the Napoleonic epoch,” he stated. The title of the successful bidder was once now not launched.
While different officials usually wore their hats with the wings dealing with entrance to again, Napoléon wore his with the ends pointing towards his shoulders. The taste — referred to as “en bataille,” or in struggle — made it more straightforward for his troops to identify their chief in struggle.
The hat on sale was once first recovered by Col. Pierre Baillon, a quartermaster below Napoléon, in keeping with the auctioneers. The hat then handed thru many fingers earlier than industrialist Jean-Louis Noisiez bought it.
The entrepreneur spent greater than a half-century assembling his assortment of Napoleonic memorabilia, firearms, swords and cash earlier than his loss of life in 2022.