Two pistols owned by Napoleon Bonaparte, which he intended to use to take his own life, have been sold at auction for €1.69m (£1.4m).
Created by Parisian gunmaker Louis-Marin Gosset, the pistols were auctioned at the Osenat auction house near Fontainebleau palace, where Napoleon once attempted suicide after his abdication in 1814.
Initially expected to fetch between €1.2m and €1.5m, the pistols were recently classified as national treasures by France’s culture ministry, prohibiting their export.
This classification grants the French government 30 months to potentially purchase them from the new owner, whose identity remains undisclosed.
During this period, the pistols can only leave France temporarily.
Inlaid with gold and silver and featuring an engraved profile of Napoleon, the pistols symbolize his intent to end his life on the night of April 12, 1814, following the defeat of his army and his subsequent abdication.
However, his grand squire Armand de Caulaincourt removed the powder from the pistols, leading Napoleon to use poison instead, from which he survived.
He later gifted the pistols to Caulaincourt, who passed them down through his descendants.
The auction also included the pistols’ original box, along with accessories like a powder horn and various tamping rods.
Auctioneer Jean-Pierre Osenat remarked that the sale presented “Napoleon at his lowest point” alongside these historical artifacts.
Napoleon memorabilia remains highly sought after; previously, one of his iconic tricorne hats sold for €1.9m in November.
After briefly returning to power in 1815 following exile to Elba, Napoleon faced defeat at the Battle of Waterloo and spent his final years in exile on the island of St Helena, where he passed away in 1821.
Source-BBC
