Historic bicorne of Emperor Napoleon sold for €1.9M in Paris auction

The new owner of the historical bicorne of former French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte has been announced. The bicorn hat belonging to the period when Bonaparte ruled the French Empire in the 19th century found a buyer for €1.9 million at the auction held at the Osenat Auction House in Paris, the capital of France.  

"People recognized this hat everywhere. When they saw it on the battlefields, they knew Napoleon was there. In his private life, he wore it either on his head or in his hand, sometimes throwing it on the ground. It was an image, a symbol of the emperor," Auctioneer Jean Pierre Osenat said.

It is estimated that Napoleon owned approximately 120 bicorn hats during his lifetime and only 20 of them have survived to the present day, mostly in private collections. Napoleon's hat was priced at €800 thousand before the auction.

Napoleon's hat was sold along with Napoleon's belongings assembled by an industrialist who died last year, while other items included a silver plate looted from Napoleon's carriage after the defeat at Waterloo in 1815 and a wooden vanity case containing a razor, a silver toothbrush, scissors, and other items.

Source: Ihlas News Agency