LONDON.- In the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, Sotheby’s will offer a superb pair of child-size pistols at the Treasures sale in London on 8 July 2015 (Wednesday). The pistols, which are dated 1814, are believed to be parting gifts from Napoleon I to his beloved three-year-old son, whom he had titled “King of Rome” at birth. Estimated at £800,000 – 1.2 million / HK$9.6 – 14.4 million, the pistols mark one of the most poignant moments in Napoleon I’s turbulent life – the last time he saw his son before his defeat in the battle and exile to Elba.

An Important Imperial Gift
Created by celebrated gunsmith Jean Lepage, the exquisitely wrought pistols, encrusted and inlaid with gold, are emblazoned with Napoleonic symbolism, such as the capitalised N and the Imperial eagle, marking them as an important Imperial gift.

Impeccable Provenance
During the Siege of Paris which followed Napoleon I’s fall, the pistols were acquired in 1816 by an ambitious English souvenir collector named William Bullock. Bullock was an entrepreneur who captivated Regency London with his epic exhibitions of Napoleonic memorabilia and natural history in his famous Egyptian Hall at 22 Piccadilly. This fashionable venue lured everyone from the Prince Regent, the Queen and visiting European royalty to Jane Austen, Lord Byron and Walter Scott. The pistols were then sold at his sale of the contents of Egyptian Hall in 1819, and were later in the collections of Anglo-American socialite Cora, Countess of Strafford, and the renowned antique firearms connoisseur William Keith Neal.

A Brief History of Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) conquered Europe to become 1st Emperor of the French. Born in Corsica, he rose through the ranks of the French army in the wake of the Revolution which had overthrown King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette, conquering Egypt by 1798, and launching a coup d’état in France in 1799, becoming first consul. By 1804 he had been proclaimed Emperor in a lavish ceremony at the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris. Napoleon is today a polarising figure, a tyrant to some, but to others an enlightened reformer who swept aside feudal systems of law and government throughout Europe, replacing them with his Code Napoleon, which established the principles of meritocracy, justice and freedom of religion; he also abolished slavery. Napoleon’s forces swept Europe, defeating the Austrians at Marengo (1800) and Austerlitz (1805), and annexing Italy, Spain, Holland, Belgium and large swathes of modern day Germany. His downfall began with his disastrous conquest of Russia, which eventually led to retreat from Moscow and the invasion of France by his enemies, Britain, Austria and Prussia. Napoleon abdicated in April 1814, was forced into exile on the island of Elba, but returned triumphantly only to be decisively defeated at the Battle of Waterloo by the Duke of Wellington on 18 June 1815. He was exiled to the Atlantic island of St Helena, where he died in 1821. His defeat led to the ascendancy of Britain as the leading force in world affairs through the 19th century.