FONTAINEBLEAU, France — A secret code letter sent in 1812 by Napoleon Bonaparte boasting that his French forces would blow up Moscow's Kremlin has sold at auction for ten times its estimated presale price.
A Paris museum — the Museum of Letters and Manuscripts —was finalizing its purchase of the Oct. 20, 1812, document for (EURO)187,500 ($243,500), including fees. That's far above the pre-sale estimate of (EURO)15,000 ($19,500).
Auctioneers at Fontainebleau Auction House south of Paris say the letter sold Sunday is unique. It was written in a numeric code used by the French ruler to throw off would-be interceptors. Its content bared the strains on Napoleon of his calamitous Russian invasion.
One line said: "At three o'clock in the morning, on the 22nd I am going to blow up the Kremlin."
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