What do we think of when we hear the name Napoleon? Briefly, with his hand in his coat, and that funny little hat he wears on his head. Well, the third and final item in that list was recently auctioned off and fetched an incredible price.
At the Drouot auction house in Paris, a bicorne hat believed to have belonged to Napoleon would fetch between 600,000 and 800,000 euros. It sold for a record sum of 1,932,000 euros. The last time a hat belonging to Napoleon was auctioned, it brought 1,884,000 euros.
Auctioneer Jean-Pierre Osenat said bicorne hats were part of Napoleon’s imagery. “The hat was part of the image he constructed, since Napoleon was a man of communication,” he told to Reuters.
Napoleon also wore the hat in a specific way, with the corners aligned with his shoulders, while most wore this type of hat with one corner forward and the other back.
Do you think you could take off Napoleon’s hat?