A newly discovered hat has DNA evidence that it belongs Napoleon Bonaparte It was exhibited at Bonhams Auction House in Hong Kong.
Bonhams describes it as “the first hat with the emperor’s DNA” and is currently previewing Hongkong Before it moves to Paris and London, it will be auctioned in London on October 27th.
This hat is one of the two-cornered hats commonly seen in Napoleon’s depictions on the battlefield. Its current owner bought it at a small German auction house. He did not know that it belonged to the emperor at the time.
“This was a purely accidental encounter,” Bonhams managing director Simon Cottle said. Europe.
Kottel said that when the buyer realized that it had inscriptions and other features suggesting that it might belong to Napoleon, he became interested, adding that preliminary investigations indicated that it matched the size and age of Napoleon’s double-pointed star.
The hat was then extensively tested using various methods, including electron microscopy. “When I checked the contents of the hat very carefully, I found five hairs,” Cottel said. “Then trace two of the hairs, they bear Napoleon’s mark.”
According to Cottle, the story behind this hat is very different from other Napoleon double-horned hats available on the market. He said that most of them were passed down by noble families who had connections with the emperor or by soldiers who picked them up on the battlefield.
Kottel said the estimated price of the hat-100,000-150,000 pounds-was cautious because the hat has only recently been proven to belong to the emperor.
Other Napoleon hats sell for as much as £1 million.
