Pistols Napoleon Planned to Use to End His Life Are Sold

As the story goes, French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte intended to shoot himself on April 12, 1814, after he was forced to abdicate. But the BBC reports his grand squire, Armand de Caulaincourt, emptied Napoleon's two pistols of their gunpowder; he instead consumed poison but vomited and survived. Those pistols survived, too: They were given to Caulaincourt and inherited by that man's descendants. On Sunday, they sold at auction for $1.8 million, ahead of a top estimate of $1.6 million.

The pistols were made by Paris gunmaker Louis-Marin Gosset, are inlaid with gold and silver, and show an engraved image of Napoleon. The BBC reports France's culture ministry recently dubbed the weapons national treasures, which means they can't be removed from France for anything other than brief periods. It also gives the government the ability to provide the new unnamed owner with a purchase offer within the next 30 months; the AFP reports the owner is not obligated to accept it. (One of Napoleon's battered hats sold for a towering sum in November.)