The man who has assembled “one of the most significant offerings of Napoleonic material to come to market,” according to Sotheby’s, is hoping Elon Musk buys it all.
On June 25 in Paris, the house is selling around 100 lots from the private collection of Pierre-Jean Chalençon, described as “France’s most famous antiques collector” by the Times. The sale is called “Napoleon: A Historic Collection.”
Chalençon recently told the New York Post that he thinks the Tesla billionaire is the ideal prospective buyer for his collection, which includes one of Napoleon’s iconic bicorne hats and a herald sword and stick used during the French general’s 1804 coronation ceremony at Notre-Dame de Paris. Sotheby’s is also selling his worn stockings and portable camp bed.
“[The lots] are like my babies,” he said. “And I wish Elon Musk, the new Napoleon, to buy everything, to keep my babies together.”
“Echoing Napoleon’s words—‘What a novel my life!’—this collection reads like a vivid historical epic, unfolding across battlefields and boudoirs, ceremonial halls, and intimate chambers, alternating a chronicle of power, politics, and pageantry, to the vulnerabilities, ambitions and contradictions of the man behind the myth,” Sotheby’s said in a statement.
Chalençon is reportedly being forced to sell the Parisian mansion he transformed into a shrine to Napoleon to pay off a €10 million loan. He purchased the Palais Vivienne in 2015 for €6 million and wasted no time in decking it out with his collection of Napoleonic memorabilia, which is allegedly 1,000 pieces strong. It includes Napoleon’s coronation ring, which has a 5.33 carat ruby. The antiques dealer has described himself as “Napoleon’s press officer.”
In March, the Times wrote that he is struggling to pay off a €10 million loan that he took out from Swiss Life Banque Privée to finance his purchases. However, he told Le Parisien: “I am not riddled with debts. I am doing well.”
The collection was shown at Sotheby’s Hong Kong from May 23 to 27, and is currently displayed at Sotheby’s New York until June 11 before the auction in the French capital later this month.
