The enthusiasm for the auction of objects related to Napoleon Bonaparte is unabated. A lot consisting of a sword carried by the future emperor during his coup d’état in 1799, and five ornate firearms that belonged to him, was sold for more than $ 2.8 million ($ 2.5 million euros), during a sale in the United States on December 3, 2021.
The whole had been estimated between 1.5 and 3.5 million dollars. At precisely 2.87 million dollars, “The buyer of Napoleon’s equipment brings home a very rare historical piece”said Kevin Hogan, chairman of Illinois-based Rock Island Auction Company. He told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the buyer preferred to remain anonymous.
A centerpiece of the collection
The sword, accompanied by its scabbard, the centerpiece of the collection, came out of the Versailles workshops of the gunsmith Nicolas-Noël Boutet and was “Worn by Napoleon Bonaparte during the coup d’etat of 18 Brumaire 1799” (November 9, 1799), according to Rock Island Auction Company which says “World leader in auctions of firearms, bladed weapons and collectible military equipment”.
Crowned Emperor on December 2, 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte offered his sword to General Jean-Andoche Junot. When he died, the weapon had found its way to a museum in London and then to an American collector. The auction house recalled that in 2007, “The saber carried by (the First Consul Bonaparte) at the battle of Marengo (against the Austrian troops in June 1800 in Piedmont in Italy) had been sold at auction for 6.5 million dollars”.
France celebrated in the spring the bicentenary of the death of Napoleon Bonaparte on May 5, 1821.