PARIS, May 23. /TASS/. A sabre belonging to French Emperor Napoleon I has sold at an auction in Paris for 4.7 mln euro.
The sabre was valued at 700,000 – 1,000,000 euro but a bidding war brought the price up to 4.7 mln euro, the Giquello auction house said on its website.
Napoleon ordered the sabre “for personal use” in 1802 and kept it until the end of his reign. After his abdication, he gave the sabre to Marshal Emmanuel de Grouchy, one of his closest allies. Descendants of de Grouchy’s sister passed the sabre to the auction house.
This was the second-most expensive sword owned by Napoleon ever sold at auction. In 2007, a sabre which he famously fought with in the Battle of Marengo in Italy in 1800 sold for 4.8 mln euro.
