“I used to like the saying of Napoleon Bonaparte that impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools. I wanted my people to be adventurous and entrepreneurial by looking at the two-cornered hat.”
“The challenge spirit of Napoleon Bonaparte sends an important message to those of us living in the 21st century. I will display the hat in a public space rather than holding it as a private collection so that everyone can share the spirit inspired by the French emperor.”
— Kim Hong-kuk, chairman of Harim Group, Korea’s largest chicken meat processor
In a bid held on November 16 at the Osenat auction house in Fontainebleau near Paris, the hat was sold at 1.9 million euros (US$2.4 million). (image: Ghislain SILLAUME/flickr)
SEOUL, Nov. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — The successful bidder to the famous black “bicorne” felt hat Napoleon Bonaparte used to wear turned out to be none other than Kim Hong-kuk, the chairman of Harim Group, Korea’s largest chicken meat processing company.
In a bid held on November 16 at the Osenat auction house in Fontainebleau near Paris, the hat was sold at 1.9 million euros (US$2.4 million). The auction house in the beginning did not reveal the identity of the buyer with Korean nationality, which raised a lot of curiosity among Koreans.
The two-cornered hat was a gift to a veterinarian belonging to an army Napoleon was in command. It was then purchased in 1926 by Louis II of Monaco, the great-grandfather of Albert II, the reigning monarch, who designated it as part of a royal collection.
The auction house had expected the hat would fetch a price of about 500,000 euros ($623,700), but the actual price was quadruple that of the original expectation. It is reported this is the all-time high price for a hat.
By Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
