Have more money than sense…
A hat that French leader Napoleon Bonaparte wore himself sold for $2.1 million at an auction Sunday.
The final price also includes a commission of 28.8% charged by the Osenat auction house, which anticipated the hat would sell for anywhere between $650,000 to $850,000. Additionally more memorabilia from the French leader were included, per the collection of entrepreneur Jean-Louis Noisiez who died last year.
Full article, HERE from the Washington Examiner.
That felt hat looks awfully good to be over 200 years old, and I can’t help but wonder about the provenance, but I can’t see myself ever spending that much for something that somebody wore/owned/or whatever…
Sumdood recently spent $588,000 for one of the last transferrable machine guns made, an FN 249 SAW. Happened at Morphy’s Gun Auctions September 2023.
According to Ian at Forgotten Weapons, it’s well known to be the ONLY 249 eligible for sale on the civilian market.
So, yeah: more money than sense.
Maybe the guy that bought the hat has a “Napoleon” complex.😁
How crazy it is depends on how much cash the buyer has and the provenance. A family friend spent several thousand on a teacup that belonged to Churchill, far more than I would consider, but he had several million.
Kim Kardashian’s toe nail clippings? $2.5Mio? Or perhaps her armpit hair at $1Mio per shave? A fool and their money are easily parted.
Wow! Is that the time … I’m off to our local market to see if I can buy a glass bottle with a genie trapped inside. I need three wishes urgently (the last wish is for a leprechaun, who can grant unlimited wishes.)
Yours Aye. Ex Bootneck
Was that a signed copy? It sure cannot be the original.
Hey Old NFO;
I like historical stuff and I got some stuff from history and things from history, but artifacts like that create a whole ‘nother set of problems, especially security related issues having to protect it. THat is a lot of extra drama.
If you have enough to buy the hat you probably already have enough security to protect it. The really rich have things like personal body guards and 24-hour manned security centers at the estate behind bulletproof sheathing.
That is a lot of loot for a damn hat. Like you, I don’t care who wore it 1st.
Their money, their choices. I’d rather buy more land and there are moments when I wonder if that makes any greater sense.
There is a lot of romance attached to Bony, and I’m not sure that I kow why. A Dictator and self-proclaimed monarch who got over a million Frenchmen killed. Had some serious problems as a leader and lost because he ran out of ideas while continuing to believe his own press…
He lost. Comprehensively… yet there are still people attempting to argue that he “won” at Waterloo.
All- Y’all do raise some interesting points… Sigh…
Asking for a friend:
Did Napoleon exert enough to sweat?
If so, would there be sweat stains?
If so, would that be a positive or a negative?
There ARE antiques I’d spend money on. Napolean’s hat it not one of them.
Now, a pistol belonging to Wyatt or Virgil Earp with proper documentation would be a different story.