The incredible fate of a sword discovered in Côte-d’Or: it has just been sold at auction for 370,000 euros

The auction was held this Monday, November 18, 2024 in Dublin during a sale specializing in Asian art organized by the Adams auction house. The retired colonel who bought it wishes to remain anonymous. The only thing we know about him is thathe lives near Dijon and that, passionate about weapons, he bought this saber twenty-five years ago, during a sale of castle furniture in Côte-d’Or.

A 19th-century Vietnamese emperor

Recently he decided to clean the old weapon and that’s how he realized that this saber was in 22 carat gold. But he was not at the end of his surprises because according to a specialist who appraised it, the weapon would have belonged to a Vietnamese emperor of the 19th century, which gives it immense value. We know nothing of her arrival in the department 10,000 kilometers from her home. “The hypothesis of a diplomatic gift or the outbreak of political unrest in the country with the arrival of the communists…” We can imagine everything, explains a specialist, not to mention that Vietnam was a French colony in the past. This specialist is Emmanuel Delgado, expert in military objects in sales rooms and resident of Arnay-le-Ducit was he who appraised this weapon.

The weapon was purchased by a mysterious collector from a Nordic country

“When my client came into possession of this sword, it was covered in a substance that looked like soot. As if it had spent a little time on a fireplace”. Under the black layer appeared dragons, an inscription in Vietnamese and a pommel decorated with gold and rubies. The emperor to whom it belonged reigned between 1820 and 1841. Before this auction, the Vietnamese state positioned itself to try to buy it. The sword unleashed passions. “It reached the sum of 370,000 euros under the hammer. Its former owner is very happy because he thought that the auctions would not exceed 100,000 or 130,000 euros. His only regret is that unfortunately he will not go to Vietnam because the country did not win the auction, so the sword will go to a Nordic country to a collector. explain Emmanuel Delgado without specifying which country. What will the lucky seller do with this tidy sum? “He didn’t tell me about it. As he’s a collector I think he’ll buy other pieces. Probably Napoleonic sabers. In any case, that’s often how it happens with collectors. sells parts to buy others.”

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