Hat worn by Napoleon fetches €1.9 million at Paris auction
One of the few remaining two-pointed hats once worn by the French emperor fetches €1.9 million
One of Napoleon's famous two-pointed hats has been sold to a South Korean collector for nearly €1.9 million (HK$18.5 million) at an auction outside Paris.
The black-felted beaver-fur bicorne hat is one of only 19 examples left of the unusual headwear sported by the French emperor.
It sold for €1,884,000, almost five times its estimated value, at a two-day auction of Napoleon memorabilia by Monaco's royal family, which raked in €10 million, said French auctioneers Osenat, Binoche and Giquello.
The hat was bought by Lee Tae-kyun, the manager of Korean food-industry giant Harim.
"I came for my boss, the head of the company. He wanted to buy it because we have a new building and the hat means something there, for the new generation," said the bidder.
"We want to show this hat to make people come ... and because the employees of our company are the same [as Napoleon]. We are pioneers in Korea."