Napoleon's hat sold for... how much??!

A hat that belonged to Napoleon, a bicorn with a red-white-blue cockade on it, was sold at a French auction for a record sum.

The famous headpiece passed hands for the record sum of 1.9 billion euros (more than 2 billion dollars).

Sold by the Osenat auction house, this historical object was initially offered for 500,000 euros. Its price therefore almost quadrupled during the sale!

Thanks to this historic sale in November 2023, the Osenat auction house has surpassed its own record: in 2014, it sold another hat from Napoleon for 1.8 billion euros.

The buyer is an Italian collector whose identity has not been revealed. They were represented by an emissary. According to the French paper 'Le Figaro', however, the buyer could actually be a group of French collectors who did not want to expose themselves.

The sale took place three days before the release of Ridley Scott's highly anticipated Napoleon biopic. Was the final price driven up by a 'Napoleon effect' due to the film?

Either way, this famous black bicorn with a tricolor cockade is a legendary headdress. It was made by Pierre-Quentin-Joseph Baillon, the emperor's quartermaster from 1806.

According to a Belgian author specializing in Napoleon's hats, cited by the Huffington Post, the bicorn was worn "around the middle of the Empire."

Experts believe that the cockade (rosette) would have been added to the headgear only after Napoleon returned from the island of Elba in March 1815.

First remaining in the family, and then sold to various collectors, the hat was exhibited at the Musée de l'Empéri, in Salon-de-Provence, from 1967 to 2002.

"The hat alone represents the image of the Emperor," Jean-Pierre Osenat declared to AFP in October.

A little over two centuries after Napoleon's death, his legend continues to fascinate. And the cocked hat, its most symbolic accessory, provokes a rush of collectors!