Napoleon's sword up for sale in Paris, expected to fetch up to €1m; handwritten letter available in separate auction

27-04-2025

PARIS, April 27 — A sword that belonged to Napoleon and was specially ordered for the personal use of the French emperor is to be auctioned in Paris next month, the auction house said.
Napoleon ordered the sabre in 1802 and kept it throughout his reign.
The Giquello auction firm said on Friday it expected the sword to reach €700,000 to €1 million (US$800,000 to US$1.1 million) when it goes under the hammer in Paris on May 22.
Napoleon passed the sabre on to his close ally Emmanuel de Grouchy, who the French emperor named his last marshal of the empire.
This photograph taken in Paris on April 25, 2025 shows details of the last sword that belonged to French Emperor Napoleon before its auction on May 22 at Hotel Drouot. Napoleon kept it until the end of his reign, before giving it to Emmanuel de Grouchy, the last Marshal of the Empire. Kept since 1815 by the marshal's descendants, it will be auctioned for the first time on May 22 at Hotel Drouot. — AFP pic
The sword has been in Grouchy's family since 1815, the year of Napoleon's last defeat at the Battle of Waterloo.
A second copy, identical to this one and also commissioned by Napoleon, is kept at the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Napoleon memorabilia regularly comes up for sale at auction in France in a flourishing trade marked by intense interest from collectors.
Two pistols that he once intended to use to kill himself were sold in France last July for €1.7 million, while one of his trademark 'bicorne' hats set a record price for his possessions when it was acquired for €1.9 million in November 2023.
A hand-written letter from Napoleon denying his role in the kidnapping of Pope Pius VII in 1809 is to go under the hammer this weekend outside Paris and is expected to reach €12,000 to €15,000. — AFP
This photograph taken on April 23, 2025, shows a letter dated July 23, 1809, concerning the arrest of Pope Pius VII, written by Napoleon I and signed 'Napole', displayed at the Osenat auction house offices in Paris. A hand-written letter from Napoleon denying his role in the kidnapping of Pope Pius VII in 1809 is to go under the hammer in Fontainebleau on April 26 and 27, 2025, as part of an auction of First French Empire-era items. — AFP pic

Hashtags

#FirstFrenchEmpire-era

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

234,000ha of total protected areas set aside for orangutan conservation

Borneo Post

4 hours ago

Borneo Post

234,000ha of total protected areas set aside for orangutan conservation

Len Talif (third right) and Lo (fourth right) observe an orangutan while touring the Semenggoh Wildlife Centre. — Photo via Facebook/Len Talif Salleh KUCHING (Aug 20): The Sarawak government has renewed its commitment to conserving Bornean orangutans by setting aside over 234,000 hectares of total protected areas (TPAs) as key habitats for the species, said Datuk Len Talif Salleh. The Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Urban Development said this initiative aims to ensure the survival of nearly 2,000 wild orangutans in the state. He said these areas cover the Lanjak Entimau Wildlfe Sanctuary and Extension, Batang Ai National Park, Sedilu National Park, Ulu Sebuyau National Park, and Gunung Lesong National Park. 'These areas support nearly 2,000 wild orangutans with 95 per cent located in Lanjak Entimau and Batang Ai,' he said when officiating the International Orangutan Day 2025 at the Semenggoh Wildlife Centre yesterday, where he represented Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg. He said conservation in Ulu Sebuyau, Sedilu and Gunung Lesong has been strengthened under the Global Wildlife Programme Malaysia, which allocated US$479,436 this year to support the Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) in boundary security, habitat protection and community recovery strategies. He said 48 orangutans are currently under the care of the Semenggoh and Matang wildlife centres, with five juveniles released into the wild since 2007. He stressed that orangutan conservation remains part of the Post Covid-19 Development Strategy (PCDS) 2030. 'The orangutan is a symbol of Sarawak's natural heritage. Its survival depends on collective efforts—from government policy and scientific research to the dedication of local communities,' he said. He said through SFC, Sarawak would further strengthen collaboration with international agencies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to protect habitats, combat wildlife crime, and implement rehabilitation and education programmes. The agencies and NGOs include the UNDP-GEF Global Wildlife Program, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, WWF-Malaysia, and Wildlife Conservation Society. Meanwhile, the International Orangutan Day 2025 celebration at the Semenggoh Wildlife Centre is happening from Aug 19 to 24. It features a series of programmes including a digital outreach campaign, school engagement activities, a nature photography contest, as well as a closing ceremony with a conservation pledge and prize presentations. According to SFC, these initiatives meant to highlight the importance of orangutan conservation but also encourage greater public awareness and community participation. Also present were Batu Kitang assemblyman Datuk Lo Khere Chiang, SFC general manager and Controller of Wildlife Abang Arabi Abang Aimran, Ministry of Natural Resources and Urban Development Forestry Division head Tessy Nimos, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability deputy undersecretary (Biodiversity Management Division) Dr Khairul Naim Adham, and Perlis Wildlife and National Parks Department director Ahmad Mashur. conservation lead Len Talif Salleh orangutan protected areas

The Star

5 hours ago

The Star

Radiation and rejection

BAE Kyung-mi was five years old when the Americans dropped 'Little Boy', the atomic bomb that flattened Hiroshima on Aug 6, 1945. Like thousands of other ethnic Koreans working in the city at the time, her family kept the horror a secret. Many feared the stigma from doing menial work for colonial ruler Japan, and false rumours that radiation sickness was contagious. Bae recalls hearing planes overhead while she was playing at her home in Hiroshima on that day. This photo taken in Hapcheon, South Gyeongsang, about 320 kilometres south of Seoul on July 10, 2025 shows residents preparing to have their portraits taken for use at their funerals at the Hapcheon Atomic Bomb Victim Welfare Center, opened in 1996 by the Korean Red Cross with funding from both South Korean and Japanese governments, providing round-the-clock service to survivors of the World War II atomic bombings seeking help. Some 740,000 people were killed or injured in the twin bombings of Hiroshima and Nakasaki which ended World War II -- and more than 10 percent of the victims were Korean, data suggests, the result of huge flows of people to Japan while it colonised the Korean peninsula. (Photo by Anthony WALLACE / AFP) / To go with Japan-SKorea-history-nuclear,FOCUS by Harumi Ozawa and Kang Jin-kyu Within minutes, she was buried in rubble. 'I told my mum in Japanese, 'Mum! There are aeroplanes!'' said Bae, now 85. She passed out shortly after. Bae's home collapsed on top of her, but the debris shielded her from the burns that killed tens of thousands of people – including her aunt and uncle. People visiting the Memorial Cenotaph at the Hiroshima Peace Park in Hiroshima; and (below) residents preparing to have their funeral portraits taken at the Hapcheon Atomic Bomb Victim Welfare Centre in South Korea. — AFP After the family moved back to Korea, they did not speak of their experience. 'I never told my husband that I was in Hiroshima and a victim of the bombing,' Bae said. 'Back then, people often said you had married the wrong person if he or she was an atomic bombing survivor.' Her two sons only learned that she had been in Hiroshima when she registered at a special centre set up in 1996 in Hapcheon, South Korea, for victims of the bombings, she said. Bae said she feared her children would suffer from radiation-related illnesses that afflicted her, forcing her to have her ovaries and a breast removed because of the high cancer risk. She knew why she was getting sick, but did not tell her own family. 'We all hushed it up,' she said. Some 740,000 people were killed or injured in the twin bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. More than 10% of the victims were Korean, data suggests, the result of huge flows of people to Japan while it colonised the Korean peninsula. Survivors who stayed in Japan found that they had to endure discrimination both as hibakusha, or atomic bomb survivors, and as Koreans. Many Koreans also had to choose between pro-Pyongyang and pro-Seoul groups in Japan, after the peninsula was left divided by the 1950-53 Korean War. Kwon Joon-oh's mother and father both survived the attack on Hiroshima. The 76-year-old's parents, like others of their generation, could only work by taking on 'filthy and dangerous jobs' that the Japanese considered beneath them, he said. Korean victims were also denied an official memorial for decades, with a cenotaph for them put up in the Hiroshima Peace Park only in the late 1990s. Kim Hwa-ja was four on Aug 6, 1945 and remembers being put on a makeshift horse-drawn trap as her family tried to flee Hiroshima after the bomb. Smoke filled the air and the city was burning, she said, recalling how she peeped out from under a blanket covering her, and her mother screaming at her not to look. Korean groups estimate that up to 50,000 Koreans may have been in the city that day, including tens of thousands working as forced labourers at military sites. But records are sketchy. 'The city office was devastated so completely that it wasn't possible to track down clear records,' a Hiroshima official said. Japan's colonial policy banned the use of Korean names, further complicating record-keeping. After the attacks, tens of thousands of Korean survivors moved back to their newly-independent country. But many have struggled with health issues and stigma ever since. 'In those days, there were unfounded rumours that radiation exposure could be contagious,' said Jeong Soo-won, director of the country's Hapcheon Atomic Bomb Victim Centre. Nationwide, there are some 1,600 South Korean survivors believed to still be alive, Jeong said – with 82 of them in residence at the centre. Seoul enacted a special law in 2016 to help the survivors – including a monthly stipend of around US$72 – but it provides no assistance to their offspring or extended families. 'There are many second- and third-generation descendants affected by the bombings and suffering from congenital illnesses,' said Jeong. A provision to support them 'must be included' in future, he said. A Japanese hibakusha group won the Nobel Peace Prize last year in recognition of their efforts to show the world the horrors of nuclear war. But 80 years after the attacks, many survivors in both Japan and Korea say the world has not learned. US President Donald Trump recently compared his strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 'Would he understand the tragedy of what the Hiroshima bombing has caused? Would he understand that of Nagasaki?' survivor Kim Gin-ho said. In Korea, the Hapcheon centre held a commemoration on Aug 6 – with survivors who hoped that the event would attract more attention this year. From politicians, 'there has been only talk, but no interest', he added. — AFP

234,000 hectares of total protected areas set aside for orangutan conservation