Three love letters from Napoleon Bonaparte to his wife Josephine have been auctioned in Paris for more than half a million euros. The letters written between 1796 and 1804 would have found a buyer for 513,500 euros, said the auction house Drouot.
In a letter from 1796, Napoleon complains during his Italian campaign to receive any news from Josephine. "No letter from you, my lovely friend, so you have lovely things to do, for you forget your husband, who in the midst of all matters and extreme fatigue thinks only of you, only desires you. ... I am isolated to forget."
Numerous historical objects were auctioned at the auction in the French capital. Thus, an Enigma encryption machine used by the Wehrmacht scored 48,100 euros.
Also a manuscript of the revolutionary journalist Camille Desmoulins, who was executed in 1794 with a guillotine, came under the hammer. The script, which he had made during his trial in his defense, was auctioned for 24,700 euros.
The works came from a collection that had collected the now insolvent investment company Aristophil. It had been closed four years ago following a scandal involving the misappropriation of customer deposits of € 850 million. The previous 14 auctions with items from the Aristophil collection had brought in a total of 26.4 million euros.