A sword believed to have been taken from a defeated soldier and given to a British officer by French ruler Napoleon Bonaparte will be sold at auction in London on November 12.
The 80-centimeter sword, with a curved and still very sharp blade, will be sold by the specialized auction house Charles Miller (Charles Miller Ltd).
The sword is estimated to sell for £30.000 to £50.000 (€35.000 to €59.000).
That battle sword is without ornaments and precious stones.
"It could have been an ordinary sword if it hadn't been owned by Napoleon," said an unnamed representative of the auction house.
Little is known about the sword's origins. Its curved shape is "typical of Moorish swords", said one expert from the auction house, adding that the sword was probably taken by Napoleon "from a defeated soldier and kept as a war treasure".
There is a discreet inscription on the sword - Gift of Napoleon Bonaparte to James Kearny, 1815.
The sword is also mentioned in the will of Kearney, a naval officer, and that document is kept in the National Archives of Great Britain.
Napoleon, forced to abdicate on April 6, 1814 and exiled to the island of Elba, between Italy and his native Corsica, ruled again but only for a year, until the Battle of Waterloo where he was defeated.
The English deported him to St. Jelena, a small island in the South Atlantic.
Napoleon was then supplied by British ships and in that context he met James Kearney, whose frigate was transporting wine for the defeated French ruler. Napoleon presented the sword to a British officer and the item remained in the possession of the officer's descendants for more than two centuries.
Descendants of James Kearney recently made the decision to sell it.
"As it is a fairly standard piece, it is likely that Napoleon did not feel the need to keep it and it is all in all a fairly logical gift for a soldier," the auction house added.
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