Napoleon’s ornate flintlock pistols sell for $1.83 million
By Catherine Nicholls, CNN
(CNN) — Two flintlock Gossard pistols once owned by French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte have sold at auction for €1.69 million ($1.83 million).
The guns were sold at French auction house Osenat in Fontainebleau, just outside Paris, on Sunday. They were originally valued at an estimated €1.2 million-€1.5 million ($1.3 million- $1.63 million).
According to the auctioneer, they were given to Napoleon’s friend and squire Armand de Caulaincourt just after the emperor attempted suicide in April 1814.
Leading up to this date, Napoleon had fought a series of battles against a coalition of European states formed in response to his invasion of Russia.
Despite Napoleon winning a number of these battles, Paris fell to the allied coalition on March 31, 1814.
In the days before the suicide attempt, Caulaincourt said, “Napoleon had been talking about how to kill himself for days,” according to Osenat. The emperor “had frequently examined his pistols, removing bullets from his nécessaire” during this time, Osenat reports Caulaincourt as saying.
Eventually, Osenat says, Napoleon tried to kill himself using poison after signing the Treaty of Fontainebleau. He survived the attempt, abdicated and was exiled to Elba, an island off the Italian coast.
The guns were sold in a Burr walnut box with an ebony inlay. The lid of the box is lined with green velvet embroidered with the letter N, which is bordered with embroidered flowers. The box and two guns also bear Napoleon’s cipher.
Last November, Osenat sold one of Napoleon’s famous black hats for a record €1.932 million ($2.1 million).
Osenat told CNN Monday that the pistols were declared a National Treasure by the French government a week before they were sold, meaning that they cannot leave France.
“This pair of pistols represents the fall, the end, the abdication” of the French emperor, auctioneer Jean-Pierre Osenat said in a video posted by the auction house.
“Napoleon fell from the pinnacle of power. With this pair of guns, he considered committing suicide,” he added.
“It therefore represents the end, the image of the fall.”
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