A discolored, cracked double-ended cap for Someone has bid Rs. 17.5 crores!
It is not the hat that counts, it is the person who wore it – French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte!
Yes, the hat that was auctioned for $2.1 million was worn by the knight Napoleon.
This is the hat worn by Emperor Napoleon during his reign of France in the nineteenth century and his great conquests in Europe. It was one of the few possessions that Napoleon wore.
Some Napoleon-related artifacts, including this hat from the collection of a French businessman who died last year, were auctioned in Paris on Sunday. At this auction, it was the Napoleon hat that caught everyone’s attention. According to the Osenat auction house in Fontainebleau, which sold the hat, only about 16 remain, with most now housed in museums because of their historical significance.
The hat was part of a collection belonging to French industrialist Jean Louis Noisiez that went on sale on Sunday.
It is made of black beaver felt and is decorated with a tricolor cockade, or military rosette.
According to its online listing, the hat – which sold for more than double its original estimate – was made by a furrier at the emperor’s palace.
The cap was initially valued at $6.5 lakh. The amount kept increasing. In the end, John Bay Ozuna, president of the Ozuna Auction Center, fetched the cap for $2.1 million.
When Ozuna won the Napoleon hat at auction, everyone in the arena erupted in applause.
Others usually wear their bi-brimmed hats with both ends at the front and back. But Napoleon was the only one to wear his hat with both ends on both sides of his shoulders. This style is called the battlefield style. Because of this, during battles, Napoleon’s soldiers could easily know where their leader was on the field.
The auction comes with the release of Ridley Scott’s Napoleon in a few days, which could reignite interest in Napoleon.
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