Napoleon’s sword sold for €4.7 Million in Paris auction

A sword commissioned personally by Napoleon Bonaparte sold Thursday evening in Paris for nearly EUR 4.7 million, approaching the world record for Napoleonic artifacts sold at auction, the Hôtel Drouot auction house announced Friday.

The weapon fetched EUR 4.66 million (including fees), according to officials at Hôtel Drouot, where the auction was held by the Giquello auction house.

Originally estimated between EUR 700,000 and EUR 1 million, the sword came close to the current world record of EUR 4.8 million, set in 2007 by the sale of the sword Napoleon used during the Battle of Marengo.

This latest sale places the piece among the most valuable Napoleonic relics ever auctioned.

Napoleon, then First Consul, commissioned the sword between 1802 and 1803 from Nicolas-Noël Boutet, the famed director of the Versailles arms factory and considered the greatest gunsmith of his era.

After becoming Emperor, Napoleon kept the sword until the end of his reign, later gifting it to one of his most loyal generals, Emmanuel de Grouchy, whom he eventually promoted to the empire’s final marshal.

The sword remained in the possession of Grouchy’s descendants for generations.

A second, identical version of the sword, also commissioned by Napoleon, is on display at the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia.