Napoleon’s used hanky goes on sale
Paris: How much would you pay for a 200-year-old secondhand handkerchief? How about a strip of bloodstained cotton used at an autopsy?
Well, such delights were on offer yesterday at the Osenat auction house in Fontainebleau near Paris to mark the 200th anniversary of the death of Napoleon Bonaparte.
“These precious objects were given to my father by the General de Montholon on his return from St Helena,” read a sworn statement accompanying the objects, signed by the “second duke of Bassono”.
Napoleon was exiled to St Helena in 1815 after his defeat by the British at the Battle of Waterloo. He died there six years later.
The objects include “a small white silk bag enclosing the hair of HM Emperor Napoleon I” as well as his personalised handkerchief and a cloth used in his autopsy.
The auction comes after months of debate in France about the legacy of its most famous autocrat.
French President Emmanuel Macron was to lay a wreath at Napoleon’s tomb yesterday, but waited till the last minute to announce his plans and was seeking to walk a middle path between those who wanted a celebration and others calling for a boycott.
Black historians say Napoleon’s slavery links remain unaddressed in France, which still grapples with its colonial past and charges of deeprooted racism by ethnic minorities.
It was no longer possible to reduce his legacy to an account of military adventure and French grandeur, said the Slavery Memorial Foundation.