Demand for all things Napoleon has often sent prices spiralling well above estimates (AFP) 
 
 A two-cornered military dress hat said to belong to Napoleon and purportedly picked off the battlefield after his defeat at Waterloo will go under the hammer Monday at an auction in France.It is the latest sale looking to capitalise on the seemingly insatiable appetite for items belonging to the former French emperor, who remains a source of fascination nearly two hundred years after his death.Napoleon insisted on wearing the hats sideways -- rather than with points at the front and back -- so he could easily be spotted on the battlefield.During his 15 years in power he reportedly went through about 120 of the black felted beaver fur "bicorne" hats, most of them made by French hatmakers Poupard, though only a handful of confirmed examples still exist. "Four years ago a similar bicorne, part of a collection owned by Monaco's royal family, sold at auction for 1.9 million euros ($2.2 million at current rates) to the owner of the South Korean food and agriculture giant Harim.The hat being sold Monday is expected to fetch just 30,000 to 40,000 euros, in part because it has not been as well preserved, with the leather dried out and cracking in several places. "There are also other little details: he hated the trimming and always had it removed; he requested reinforcements at certain points where he always held it," auctioneer Etienne De Baecque told AFP news agency. Yet demand for all things Napoleon has often sent prices spiralling well above estimates.Last November a fragile gold laurel leaf from the crown made for Napoleon's coronation in 1804, weighing just 10 grams, was sold for 625,000 euros.
– Napoleon's hats were a big deal. The BBC explains he had a system for breaking in and wearing the "bicorne" military hats that he famously wore sideways so as to be better spotted by his troops: He introduced four new ones each year that were first worn by valets and then put into rotation. With a three-year lifespan, he had 12 "active" hats at a time, and he's thought to have had roughly 120 in total. Nineteen are said to still exist, and what's arguably one of the most famous of those went up for auction in France on Monday: the one he wore during his Waterloo defeat. And while it was expected to fetch less than $50,000, it sold for many times that: roughly $407,000, to an unnamed European private collector, reports the New York Times. AFP reports the provenance of the two-pointed hat isn't rock-solid, but records do date it back to a Dutch captain who died in 1821 and said he retrieved it from the battlefield in 1815. Auctioneer Etienne De Baecque explains other hallmarks that led to the identification of the hat: It's the correct size, had been scrubbed of the trimming that Napoleon "hated," and was reinforced "at certain points where he always held it." A hat worn by Napoleon during the Battle of Marengo in 1800 was sold for 1.9 million euros ($2.2 million in today's dollars) in 2014. As for why this hat fetched far less, it's in worse shape, with cracking and dried leather. The BBC notes the red ankle-length cloak Napoleon wore at Waterloo has been a part of the UK's Royal Collection for more than 180 years. (Here's how a neurosurgeon brought down Napoleon.)