Napoleon memorabilia fetches $97,000

Rare keepsakes of legendary French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, including a lock of hair cut after his death in exile, fetched $97,000 at an auction in Wellington, New Zealand.

Rare keepsakes of legendary French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, including a lock of hair cut after his death in exile, fetched $97,000 at an auction in Wellington, New Zealand.

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A lithograph and watercolor image of Napoleon sketched just after his death in 1821 by Denzil Ibbetson, received the highest bid of $14,500. The 50-item collection belonged to the descendents of Ibbetson, a commissary officer present during the French emperor's incarceration and death in St Helena.

It also included a diary kept by Ibbetson. The collection were never seen in public and brought to New Zealand with the officer's son in the 1860s.