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.
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.
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