Recently discovered Napoleon’s hat with hair as DNA proof is up for auction

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A newly discovered hat with DNA evidence as proof that it belonged to famous French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte is being put up for sale by auction house Bonhams.</p>
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According to a Reuters report, Bonhams describes it as the "first hat to bear the Emperor's DNA" and has put on display in Hong Kong before it is taken to Paris and then London, where it will be auctioned on October 27.</p>
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The hat, one of the iconic bicornes seen in pictures of Napoleon in command on the battlefield, had been bought by its present owner at a small German auction house that did not know that it had a connection to the emperor.</p>
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Managing director for Bonhams Europe Simon Cottle told <em>Reuters </em>that the buyer realised it had inscriptions and other characteristics suggesting it could have belonged to Napoleon.</p>
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The hat was then tested rigorously and also put through electronic microscopy.</p>
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"Five hairs were discovered when the contents of the hat were examined very closely," Cottle said. "And two of those hairs were then followed up, and they carried the marker of Napoleon."</p>
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Most of the hats belonging to Napoleon offered on the market had been handed down by noble families connected to the emperor, or soldiers who picked them up on the battleground. This one is clearly different as far as its discovery goes.</p>
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The estimated price for the hat has been put between 100,000 pounds ($138,550) and 150,000 pounds as it was only recently proven to have belonged to the emperor.</p>
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Other Napoleonic hats known on the auction circles have fetched up to $2.5 million.</p>
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Earlier in May this year over 300 of objects associated with Napoleon were put on sale by auction house Osenat. The collection had included Napoleon Bonaparte's DNA carried in a blood-stained cloth placed over his body during an autopsy, a lock of  his hair, a pair of his silk stockings and a long-sleeved shirt embroidered with the letter 'N' in red.</p>
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The French emperor died on May 5, 1821, at the age of 51, on the Atlantic island of Saint Helena, where he had been exiled by the British after his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 815.</p>