For those looking to own a piece of history belonging to one of the most accomplished leaders mankind has ever known, it may not get any better than this. This week the Osenat auction house near Paris, France will auction off the engagement ring that none other than Napoleon Bonaparte bestowed upon his wife Josephine.
Bonaparte is most known for his cunning military prowess and his ruthless leadership as ruler of France. What is not talked about nearly as much is the man behind the persona, one who was apparently a bit more sweet than people give him credit for.
Napoleon married Josephine in 1796 when he was 26 years old and still just a revolutionary soldier. Josephine was 6 years his elder and widowed from her previous marriage to Alexandre de Beauharnais, an aristocrat who supported the French Revolution but who would eventually fall victim to the guillotine. Josephine was already the mother of two and the wedding took place only two weeks after Napoleon's proposal, two facts that made for a scandalous union in the eyes of the Bonaparte family.
Napoleon would go on to formally adopt both of Josephine's children, though she herself was never able to have any children by him. Eventually Napoleon decided to divorce Josephine so that he may remarry and produce an heir to his estate. In 1810 they divorced, though even at the ceremony were still compelled to express their mutual devotion. Two months later Bonaparte remarried, this time to Marie Louise, Archduchess of Austria.
The wedding ring itself is an absolute work of beauty. As can be seen in the above picture, two tear shaped gems, one diamond and one sapphire, are set upon a gold band. Despite it's beauty, for the time period it was a rather simple ring given Bonaparte's lack of money at the time. Much has changed since then, however, and it is believed that the ring should fetch somewhere in the vicinity of $20,000 at the auction.
