Two pistols owned by French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, with which he once intended to kill himself, have been sold at auction for €1.69 million (£1.4 million).
The weapons, created by Parisian gunmaker Louis-Marin Gosset, had been expected to fetch between €1.2 million and €1.5 million.
The pistols were sold at the Osenat auction house on Sunday, next to the Fontainebleau palace where Napoleon attempted suicide following his abdication in 1814.
The sale comes after France’s culture ministry recently classified the pistols as national treasures and banned their export. This means the French government now has 30 months to make a purchase offer to the new owner, who remains unnamed. It also restricts the pistols’ ability to leave France temporarily.
The guns are inlaid with gold and silver and feature an engraved profile image of Napoleon. He reportedly intended to use them to kill himself on the night of April 12, 1814, after his army’s defeat forced him to relinquish power. However, his grand squire Armand de Caulaincourt removed the powder from the guns, and Napoleon instead took poison but survived.
Napoleon later gifted the pistols to Caulaincourt, who passed them down to his descendants. The auction also included the pistols’ original box and various accessories, including a powder horn and tamping rods.
Auctioneer Jean-Pierre Osenat remarked that the “image of Napoleon at his lowest point” was being sold alongside the objects.
Napoleon memorabilia is highly sought after. One of the tricorne hats that became part of his iconic image sold for €1.9 million in November.
Napoleon returned to power in 1815 following his exile to the Mediterranean island of Elba but was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo. He died in 1821 after his second banishment, this time to the island of St Helena in the South Atlantic.
