Current:Home > NewsNapoleon's bicorne hat sold at auction for a history-making price-InfoLens
Napoleon's bicorne hat sold at auction for a history-making price
View Date:2024-12-23 11:42:45
Napoleon Bonaparte's iconic hat sold at auction Sunday, fetching a history-making $2.1 million. While French auction house Osenat expected the hat to go for up to $875,328, it far surpassed that amount – and the previous record holder, a Napoleon hat sold at the same auction house for about $2 million in 2014, according to AFP.
Napoleon was a French general who was key to the French Revolution and then overthrew the French government, and ultimately becoming the emperor of France. The felt hat with its emblem the colors of the French flag – red, white and blue – dates back to the 1800s, according to Osenat.
His hat was later owned by Colonel Pierre Baillon, a military officer, who kept it in his family until the 19th century when his grandson sold it. Antiques dealer Charles Meyer sold the hat to Jean Brunon in 1928 and it was passed down in his family.
"Our hat was used by Emperor Napoleon I in the middle of the Empire during the period when Baillon was assigned to the Emperor's Palace (1806-1815)," the description on the Osenat website reads. Napoleon wore the hat as he returned from the island of Elba in 1815. Napoleon, who was exiled to the island in 1814, escaped and returned to France a year later, becoming emperor again.
Napoleon was known for wearing hats like this – often cocked to the side, according to BBC News.
In a video about the hat ahead of the sale, auctioneer Jean Pierre Osenat said Napoleon owned about 120, but only about 16 remain, mainly in private collections.
Pierre said this particular hat "had been through many events" and symbolized Napoleon's "history of 15 years that revolutionized France and changed the world."
He said the image of Napoleon wearing this type of hat – sideways, unlike everyone else – is "the image we have in mind when we think about Napoleon's world."
CBS News has reached out to Osenat for further information and is awaiting response.
Caitlin O'KaneCaitlin O'Kane is a digital content producer covering trending stories for CBS News and its good news brand, The Uplift.
veryGood! (1172)
Related
- Footage shows Oklahoma officer throwing 70-year-old to the ground after traffic ticket
- Jury sees bedroom photo of empty box that held gun used in Michigan school shooting
- Cleveland to host WWE SummerSlam 2024 at Cleveland Browns Stadium
- California is home to the most expensive housing markets in the US: See a nationwide breakdown
- New wildfires burn in US Northeast while bigger blazes rage out West
- 4 International Space Station crew members undock, head for Tuesday splashdown in Gulf of Mexico
- Small biz advocacy group wins court challenge against the Corporate Transparency Act
- A trial begins in Norway of a man accused of a deadly shooting at a LGBTQ+ festival in Oslo
- Trump's election has women swearing off sex with men. It's called the 4B movement.
- Kristin Cavallari Reveals How She Met Boyfriend and Hottest Guy Ever Mark Estes
Ranking
- Why Cynthia Erivo Needed Prosthetic Ears for Wicked
- Texans are acquiring running back Joe Mixon from the Bengals, AP source says
- The Best Easter Basket Gifts for Kids, Teens & Adults (That’s Not Candy)
- Messi 'a never-ending conundrum' for Nashville vs. Inter Miami in Concacaf Champions Cup
- New Yorkers vent their feelings over the election and the Knicks via subway tunnel sticky notes
- Avalanche forecaster dies in snowslide while skiing on Oregon mountain
- Proof Channing Tatum Is Already a Part of Zoë Kravitz’s Family
- Scott Peterson appears virtually in California court as LA Innocence Project takes up murder case
Recommendation
-
Today's Craig Melvin Replacing Hoda Kotb: Everything to Know About the Beloved Anchor
-
Girls are falling in love with wrestling, the nation’s fastest-growing high school sport
-
National Republican Chairman Whatley won’t keep other job leading North Carolina GOP
-
Judge rules missing 5-year-old girl legally dead weeks after father convicted of killing her
-
Mechanic dies after being 'trapped' under Amazon delivery van at Florida-based center
-
Pregnant Hilary Duff's Husband Matthew Koma Undergoes Vasectomy Ahead of Welcoming Baby No. 4
-
Robert Hur defends special counsel report at tense House hearing on Biden documents probe
-
Details of Matthew Perry's Will Revealed