Counting fees, the hat sold Monday for $405,212. But that price paled in comparison with another of Napoleon’s hats that was recently sold.
At an auction in 2014, a South Korean collector purchased one of the French emperor’s hats for $2.4 million, far exceeding the more than $500,000 that it was expected to fetch.
That hat, which came from a collection belonging to Monaco’s royal family, was in much better shape than the one sold Monday, which is faded, torn and cracked in some places.
Napoleon declared himself France’s emperor in 1804 and made a lasting impact on the country as a military leader and emperor, waging wars against many of the Europeans powers of the time.
After his defeat at Waterloo in 1815, he abdicated for the second time and was exiled to the remote island of St. Helena, where he died in 1821.
The hat sold Monday is believed to have been picked up after the Battle of Waterloo and the flight of Napoleon by a Dutch captain, Baron Arnout Jacques van Zuijlen van Nijevelt.
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