Napoleon's pistols sell for €1.69m at auction

YEREVAN, JULY 8, ARMENPRESS. Two pistols owned by the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, with which he once intended to kill himself, have been sold at auction for €1.69m, BBC reports.

The weapons, which were created by the Paris gunmaker Louis-Marin Gosset, had been expected to fetch between €1.2m and €1.5m.

They were sold at the Osenat auction house on Sunday - next to the Fontainebleau palace where Napoleon tried to take his own life following his abdication in 1814, the report adds.

The pistols' sale comes after France's culture ministry recently classified them as national treasures and banned their export. According to BBC, this means the French government now has 30 months to make a purchase offer to the new owner, who has not been named. It also means the pistols can only leave France temporarily.

The guns are inlaid with gold and silver, and feature an engraved image of Napoleon himself in profile.

Napoleon memorabilia is highly sought after. One of the tricorne hats that became a part of his brand sold for € 1.9 in November.