EMPEROR NAPOLEON IER'S LEGENDARY HAT, - Lot 42

Lot 42
Go to lot
Estimation :
600000 - 800000 EUR
Result with fees
Result : 1 932 000EUR
EMPEROR NAPOLEON IER'S LEGENDARY HAT, - Lot 42
EMPEROR NAPOLEON IER'S LEGENDARY HAT, IN THE TRADITIONAL FRENCH STYLE. Made of taupe felt called black beaver, decorated with the tricolor cockade, white in the center, then blue, then red on the outside. Black silk double ganse held by a wooden button embroidered with black silk threads (wear). The upper part of the front wing is reinforced on the inside by a sewn-on piece of black felt 16.5 cm long and 3 cm wide, as are all Emperor's hats. This reinforcement allows the hat to be held securely in the hand. This hat no longer has an inner cap, but retains its basane headband. First Empire period, circa 1810. Rear wing: 230 mm. Front wing: 165 mm. Width: 475 mm. Inside measurement: 190 x 170 mm. Diameter of roundel: 50 mm. Tassel width: 10 mm. Origin of the hat: - The hat came from Colonel Pierre Baillon, a furrier at the Emperor's Palace. - It remained in this family until the end of the 19th century. - The Colonel's grandson sold it to the Dijon antique dealer Charles Meyer. - Then Paul SENES collection. - Acquired by Jean Brunon in 1928, then his son Raoul, then passed on to his son Jean. - The hat and cockade were displayed at the château from 1967 until January 2002, when it was taken over by the BRUNON family. - Then in the Jean Louis NOISIEZ collection. Provenance of the cockade : -Cocarde delivered aboard the Inconstant by Marchand in sight of Antibes on March 1, 1815, on his return from the Ile d'Elbe. -Given by Prince Jérôme Bonaparte to Prince de la Moskowa. -The cockade was then presented in a medallion, and was displayed at the bedside of the Prince de la Moskowa. -Then in the Raoul and Jean Brunon collection. -Then Jean Louis NOISIEZ collection. The certificate of authenticity from expert Bertrand Malvaux, tracing the provenance of the hat and cockade, and the cartouche of the hat in the Musée de l'Empéri, are attached. History : Our hat was used by Emperor Napoleon I in the middle of the Empire, during the period when Baillon was assigned to the Emperor's Palace (1806-1815). The story of our cockade is a historical one, since it was the one the Emperor wore on his hat as he sighted the French coast, aboard the Inconstant, on March 1, 1815, on his return from Elba. Marchand, the Emperor's loyal valet, who became very close to the deposed Emperor on St. Helena, recounts this historic moment: The Emperor told me he was going to France and to prepare everything for the trip, taking few belongings with him: "A chasseur uniform and a grenadier uniform," he said, "shirts and nothing else", and I took care to carry with me, as he had recommended, a tricolor cockade to give him when he asked for it. As the Emperor was about to fly the tricolor flag, he passed me his hat through the hatchway, and put the national cockade on it instead of the Elba flag, which took no time at all. The Emperor covered himself with it, and at the sight of this cockade, this little hat bearing the colors of Austerlitz, the excitement was such that the Emperor, who wanted to speak, was unable to utter a word. Indeed, it would be difficult to describe the joy, the enthusiasm and the tenderness that broke out on the brig; the cheers, the clapping of hands and the stamping of feet were heard so loudly that all the brig's batteries were playing at once. It was delirium..." Presumably, this roundel also accompanied him on the flight of the Eagle, the reconquest of his throne, from Golf Juan to Paris. It should be noted that the cocarde in the colors of Elba, replaced by Marchand, was donated to the Musée des Sovereigns under the Second Empire by Madame Marchand.
My orders
Sale information
Sales conditions
Return to catalogue