Free Republic

An extremely rare ‘bicorne,’ or 2-pointed hat, that was worn by Napoleon at the battle of Waterloo was sold at auction in France for $325,000 on Monday. The hat went under the hammer for €280,000 ($325,052) at Lyon-based auction house De Baecque. The bicorne had a pre-sale estimate of €30,000 to €40,000 ($34,881 to $46,441). De Baecque told Fox News that the hat was bought by a private European collector who is "passionate" about the period of the First French Empire. The bloody battle of Waterloo, fought on June 18, 1815, saw Napoleon’s forces defeated by a British-led allied army....

<p>Bottles of an 1875 armagnac vieux that had been forgotten in the large wine cellar of the Tour d’Argent restaurant in Paris are to be auctioned.</p>

Its owner had dreamed of a liberated Ireland and perhaps even an Irish-controlled Canada. But the rare antique rifle -- carried by a renegade American Irishman 140 years ago during the failed Fenian invasion of Canada -- was instead seized by the defenders of British North America and is now set to be auctioned in the U.S. The battered rifle, the highlight of next month's sale of vintage firearms by Bonhams and Butterfields of San Francisco, is expected to fetch $12,000 because of its association with the famous episode from Canadian history. The lever-action Henry model, manufactured in 1860 pre-dates...