Collector in France purchases 19th-century guillotine at auction

Christophe Février, a businessman and father of four from the small town of Château-Gontier in northwest France, decided in 2014 that there was something he must have: a guillotine.

He had seen one at auction in Paris. It was 10 feet tall, with an oak frame, a few dents in the blade and the French words Afor “Armies of the Republic” etched into its metal plates. It had not actually been used to execute people during the French Revolution, but it had historical value: It was made in the mid-19th century, around the time France’s monarchy was abolished for a second time.

Lady Gaga tried to buy the guillotine in 2011, said Février, 48, in an email. But she lost out to a Russian collector, who paid 223,000 euros, or about $342,000 .

The Russian faced a problem, however: France does not allow the export or import of instruments of torture. So the guillotine stayed in its long-term home, a Paris jazz club called Le Caveau des Oubliettes. This month, the device came up for auction again after the club went bankrupt. Bidding lasted just two minutes. Février won, paying 8,000 euros — a bargain, some might say.

Guillotines were used to execute about 4,600 people in France before the death penalty was abolished there in 1981.

Explaining his purchase, Février said that he was not interested in the guillotine’s “symbolism of death,” but that he viewed it “as a historic symbol tied to the common heritage of humanity.”

“This object occupies a unique place in the history of my country and of the world as a whole,” he said. “It is indefinitely linked to French identity.”

What type of person buys a guillotine? Février said his purchase had nothing to do with any kind of fetish — “I’m not into that scene at all” — and that he was just interested in collecting unique objects.

“Friends and colleagues were mostly surprised and intrigued when I bought it,” Février said, adding that they had soon conceded that the purchase suited his personality and that many had said they were looking forward to seeing it.