Napoleon's Marengo Gold Sword

A saber shaped by Egypt

The sword's form tells where it came from. Its blade curves gently, a deliberate departure from straight European patterns. The auctioneer who sold it in 2007 said Bonaparte had noticed during his Egyptian campaign that the curved Arab swords were 'very effective in cutting off French heads,' and ordered an imitation on his return.

The result is as much ornament as weapon. The mounts are burnished steel with gold decoration in the so-called 'Marengo' form with an S-shaped guard, and geometric gold designs cover the hilt and most of the blade. 'It's at the same time a weapon of war and a very beautiful work of art,' the auctioneer said before the sale.

Reports differ on its size. The Associated Press gave the blade as 32 inches long, while the BBC described the sword as just under 100 centimeters (40 inches), which may reflect the full length with the hilt. The sources do not say which measurement is which.

Boutet and the Versailles manufactory

The sword is attributed to Nicolas-Noël Boutet, born in Paris on August 31, 1761, the son of a royal gunsmith. Boutet had been gunmaker-in-ordinary to Louis XVI, then crossed the Revolution to direct the state arms factory at Versailles, which produced more than 600,000 weapons under his leadership. He also made the lavish presentation arms the new regime used to reward its commanders.

Boutet's archives have been lost, which matters for this sword. Without his records, the experts who catalogued it in 2007 relied largely on the family's tradition about where it came from.

Boutet's work still sets records. In May 2025 a different saber that Bonaparte, as First Consul, commissioned from Boutet in 1802-1803, later given to Marshal Emmanuel de Grouchy, sold in Paris for 4.66 million euros including fees. Reports of that sale noted that it came close to the world record still held by the Marengo sword.

June 14, 1800

In May 1800 Bonaparte led an army across the Alps into Italy. On June 14 he met the Austrian army of General Michael von Melas near Alessandria in Piedmont. The French began the day with about 22,000 men and 15 guns; the Austrians had about 30,000 men and 100 guns.

The battle went badly for most of the day. The French line gave ground until, at about 5:30 in the afternoon, General Louis Desaix arrived with reinforcements and steadied it. Soon after, a cavalry charge led by General François Kellermann broke the Austrian pursuit. Desaix was mortally wounded in the counterattack.

The victory was decisive. Within 24 hours Melas opened the negotiations that became the Convention of Alessandria, under which the Austrians evacuated northwestern Italy. Austrian losses came to about 14,000 killed, wounded or captured, about 8,000 of them prisoners, against 5,600 to 7,000 French. The win secured Bonaparte's hold on power as First Consul, only months after the coup that put him there.

A family heirloom that stayed in the family

By the Bonaparte family's account, Napoleon gave the sword to his brother Jérôme, as a wedding present. The accounts disagree on when. One report says five years after Marengo; another says simply after the battle. Jérôme married twice, to the American Elizabeth Patterson in Baltimore on December 24, 1803, and, after Napoleon had that marriage annulled, to Catharina of Württemberg on August 22, 1807, the year he became King of Westphalia. An official portrait of Jérôme and Catharina painted around 1810 by François-Joseph Kinson, now at Versailles, shows him holding this saber.

The sword passed down Jérôme's line. Before the 2007 sale it was described as coming from the collection of Prince Victor Napoléon, Jérôme's grandson and the head of the imperial family after the death of Napoleon III's heir. Reports said it had belonged to eight of the emperor's descendants. In 1978 France classified it as a national treasure, so it cannot be exported permanently.

The descendants offered it at auction in Fontainebleau, across the street from one of Napoleon's palaces, on Sunday, June 10, 2007. The estimate was 1.2 to 1.5 million euros, held down by the export ban. A packed room pushed it to 4.8 million euros including fees, more than three times the estimate. A spokesman for the sale called it a world record for a souvenir of the emperor, for a sword and for any weapon. Any buyer had to keep a French address and keep the sword in France for five to six months a year.

The buyer was first described only as an anonymous woman buying for her husband; the auctioneer called it 'a very nice Father's Day gift.' A French arts newspaper later reported that she was the wife of one of the selling descendants, living in Geneva. The sword had not left the family after all.

Which sword was at Marengo?

Months after the sale, a French arts newspaper raised a question the sale had not addressed. A letter of February 25, 1806, from the Empress Joséphine to her son Eugène de Beauharnais, published in 1996 in a collection of her correspondence, says she is sending Eugène 'the sabre that the Emperor wore at the battle of Marengo.' The curator of the Malmaison museum, a co-editor of the letters, said he had seen the original.

If Eugène received the Marengo sword, the family story of a gift to Jérôme would not hold. The sale's two experts rejected the letter's relevance. They said Joséphine meant a different saber in Eugène's collection, now in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, made to commemorate the first Italian campaign, on which an engraver had mistakenly added 'Marengo' to the list of battles. The newspaper pointed out that the Hermitage saber has been dated to around 1809, too late to be the one Joséphine described in 1806.

The paper also found no written testimony of the gift to Jérôme earlier than 1830, nine years after Napoleon's death, and noted that the Kinson portrait shows Jérôme with the sword but does not prove how he got it. The question remains open. The sword's identity rests on family tradition and its appearance in Jérôme's hands, not on a document from Napoleon's lifetime.

The numbers

Battle date

June 14, 1800 (25 Prairial, Year VIII)

French strength

About 22,000 men and 15 guns at the start, later reinforced by about 6,000

Austrian strength

About 30,000 men and 100 guns under Michael von Melas

French losses

5,600 to 7,000

Austrian losses

About 14,000 killed, wounded or captured, including about 8,000 prisoners, and 40 guns

Result

French victory; negotiations for the Convention of Alessandria opened within 24 hours

Timeline

1. Aug 31, 1761

   Nicolas-Noël Boutet, later director of the Versailles arms manufactory, is born in Paris.

2. Nov 15, 1784

   Jérôme Bonaparte is born in Ajaccio, Corsica.

3. May 15, 1800

   Bonaparte begins crossing the Alps into Italy.

4. Jun 14, 1800

   Bonaparte carries the sword at the Battle of Marengo, by its traditional account.

5. Dec 24, 1803

   Jérôme marries Elizabeth Patterson in Baltimore.

6. Feb 25, 1806

   Joséphine writes to Eugène that she is sending him the saber the emperor wore at Marengo.

7. Aug 22, 1807

   Jérôme marries Catharina of Württemberg; family tradition holds the sword was a wedding gift to Jérôme.

8. 1810

   About this year, François-Joseph Kinson paints Jérôme and Catharina, with Jérôme holding the saber.

9. Jun 24, 1860

   Jérôme dies; the sword remains with his descendants.

10. 1978

    France classifies the sword as a national treasure.

11. Jun 10, 2007

    The sword sells at auction in Fontainebleau for 4.8 million euros, a world record for a weapon.

12. Sep 21, 2007

    A French arts newspaper reports the buyer was a seller's wife and raises the Joséphine letter.

13. May 22, 2025

    A different Boutet saber made for Bonaparte sells in Paris for 4.66 million euros, just short of the Marengo record.

The world in 1800

• Feb 7, 1800

  A French plebiscite confirms Bonaparte as First Consul.

• Feb 11, 1800

  William Herschel discovers infrared radiation.

• Mar 20, 1800

  Alessandro Volta describes the voltaic pile, the first chemical battery.

• Apr 24, 1800

  The Library of Congress is founded in Washington.

• Sep 30, 1800

  France and the United States sign the Convention of 1800, ending the Quasi-War.

• Nov 17, 1800

  Congress meets in Washington for the first time.

• Dec 3, 1800

  The French defeat the Austrians at Hohenlinden; the US electoral vote ends in a Jefferson-Burr tie.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, Napoleon's Marengo Gold Sword is number 12 of 100 in the memorabilia entries of the FLOAT 100. 100 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (39 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• The sword's curve copied swords Bonaparte had seen in Egypt, which his auctioneer said were 'very effective in cutting off French heads.'
• The record buyer in 2007 was reported to be the wife of one of the descendants who sold it, so the sword stayed in the family.
• Because it is a French national treasure, its owner must keep it in France for five to six months a year.
• A letter from Joséphine dated 1806 says the Marengo saber went to her son Eugène, not to Jérôme.
• It sold for more than three times its estimate, at 4.8 million euros.
• Bonaparte was not yet emperor at Marengo; he was First Consul.
• A different Bonaparte saber by the same maker came within 140,000 euros of the record in 2025.