Napoleon famously wore a bicorne, a two-cornered hat on the battlefield. The distinctive design made it easier for his lieutenants to identify him.
A hat that once belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte is up for auction. But how the auction house knows it belonged to the legendary tyrant is interesting.
After the hat was bought at an earlier auction, its owner noticed some inscriptions that suggested it might have belonged to Napoleon. Also, several hairs were found inside the hat.
The hairs were submitted for DNA testing, and it turns out they were 100 percent his.
Born in Corsica, Napoleon became a powerful military leader who led French armies on conquests in Europe and Africa. He made himself emperor of France in 1804.
Napoleon famously wore a bicorne, a two-cornered hat on the battlefield. The distinctive design made it easier for his lieutenants to identify him.
But the hat only took him so far. After a series of defeats, he was exiled to the island of St. Helena, where he died in 1815.
He’s buried in Paris, but his hat lives on.
The hat will be auctioned in late October in London. Previous Napoleon bicornes have sold for over $2 million.
So, if someone is looking for a commanding fashion piece and also has a few million lying around, this could be theirs.
