Pistols Napoleon planned to use to kill himself sold for $1.8
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Paris, France: An auction house in France announced that two pistols of French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte were sold on Sunday for 1.69 million euros ($1.8 million).
The French government insisted that the pistols that Napoleon Bonaparte once planned to use to kill himself should stay in the country as national treasures.
At the auction in Fontainebleau south of Paris, the final price of the pistols with fees was put at above .2-1.5 million euros.
The national treasures commission of the French culture ministry earlier placed a ban on the export of the pistols after classifying them as national treasures.
The export ban gives the French government a 30-month period in which it can make purchase offer to the new owner who can refuse it.
Alongside, any object being classified as the national treasure can leave France only temporarily, with a mandatory return.
"Being classified as a national treasure gives an incredible value to the object," a representative of the Osenat auction house was quoted as saying.
The guns inlaid with gold and silver carries the engraved image of Napoleon.
The French ruler almost used to them to end his life in 1814 after foreign forces defeated his army and occupied Paris.
"After the defeat of the French campaign, he was totally depressed and wanted to commit suicide with these weapons but his grand squire removed the powder," AFP quoted auction house expert Jean-Pierre Osenat as saying.
Instead of using pistols, Napoleon tried poison but vomited and survived.
He gifted the pistols to his squire expressing his gratitude to him for his loyalty, it is reported.
