It was a former retired colonel living near Dijon (Côte d’Or) who made this discovery at his home. We mentioned the auction in a previous article with a starting bid of 100,000 euros. France Bleu announced that the saber finally went for 370,000 euros.
The auction specializing in Asian arts took place last Monday in Dublin. This former retired colonel did not wish to speak, we simply know that he lives near Dijon and that he bought the saber more than twenty years ago during a sale in a castle. It was while dusting the object that he realized that part of it was gold.
The saber belonged to a Vietnamese emperor
Expertise carried out by an arms specialist revealed that the object belonged to a 19th century Vietnamese emperor. We don’t know much about the reasons that brought the weapon to France. “The hypothesis of a diplomatic gift” put forward Emmanuel Delgado, the expert.
The saber aroused all the desires during the sale. The former colonel thought he would get 100,000 euros from it. It was a collector from a Nordic country who bought the sword for 370,000 euros. An unexpected sum which testifies to the great value of the object.
Swiss
