When Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled to the South Atlantic island of Saint Helena in 1815, he packed for a permanent vacation. In addition to three servants, Napoleon brought his finest porcelain, long-barreled guns for shooting birds, hundreds of books, a portrait of his young son, and four of his distinctive bicorne hats.

One of these hats has been rediscovered after an absence of more than a century by curators at the Condé Museum, which is located inside Château de Chantilly, 25 miles north of Paris. The bicorne entered the museum’s collection in the early 20th century, but was archived and forgotten until last year, when it was rediscovered during preparations for an upcoming exhibition on Napoleon’s legacy. Following an extensive provenance study, the hat was presented to the media on March 26.

“This hat is a revelation,” Mathieu Deldicque, the director of the museum, said in a statement. “We know every stage of its history, from Napoleon’s exile on Saint Helena right up to the present day.”

The inside of Napoleon’s bicorne hat. Photo: Elise Houben/ AFP.

According to his 1821 will, Napoleon left several mementos of his imperial reign—such as the sword he wore at Austerlitz, the seal of France, and two of his bicornes—to his son, Napoleon II. But Austrian authorities blocked the transfer and after his son’s premature death in 1832, the imperial estate was awarded to Napoleon’s sister, Caroline Murat, four years later.

The provenance research was carried out in collaboration with the Musée de l’Armée (France’s Army Museum), which confirmed the beaver pelt bicorne was made by Poupard, Napoleon’s official hat-maker. Its proportions, tricolor cockade, and silk-taffeta lining match the Little Corporal’s specifications, according to Jean-Guillaume Parich, the museum’s 19th-century collections curator. “There are even some rather moving, rather touching details, namely, its silk lining shows clear signs of perspiration,” Parich said in a statement. “One can really picture the emperor in his final years.”

Over the course of his roughly two-decade career, Napoleon is believed to have ordered between 60 and 80 bicornes—fun fact: unlike most of his military contemporaries, Napoleon wore his bicorne sideways, which made him easily recognizable to his soldiers. Roughly 15 bicornes have been authenticated by experts with most held in the collections of French museums.

Giquello’s auction house has made the sword the flagship lot its May sale. Photo: Stephane de Sakutin/AFP.

Items associated with Napoleon and his divisive reign continue to command high prices at auction. The most expensive price paid for a bicorne is the record €1.9 million ($2 million) paid at Hotel Drouot in Fontainebleau in 2023. In May last year, Napoleon’s 1802 sword studded with classical themese sold for €4.6 million ($5.2 million). A month later, a trove of more than 100 Napoleonic objects netted €8.3 million ($9.7 million) at Sotheby’s Paris. There, a bicorne fetched a mere €355,600 ($416,410) and the top lot was Jean-Baptist Mauzaisse’s painting of Napoleon crossing the Alps.

“Napoleon at Chantilly” is at the Château de Chantilly, France, June 6–October 4, 2026.