FONTAINEBLEAU, France - Surveying the glittering collection of Napoleonic objects laid out in an auction hall near Paris, Bruno Ledoux said he had a good reason for his interest in a set of baby clothes belonging to Napoleon Bonaparte 's son.
'You see, I have a palace,' said Mr. Ledoux, who owns not just a palace, but the palace of Napoleon II, Napoleon's son, on the outskirts of Paris.
Mr. Ledoux, one of France's biggest Napoleon collectors and owner of the newspaper Libération, had come here on Saturday to one of the largest auctions of Napoleon memorabilia ever held, looking for items for a museum he is creating.
Hundreds of people packed the auction house on Saturday and Sunday for the event opposite the Château de Fontainebleau, where Napoleon abdicated in 1814.
Nearly 1,000 objects were for sale, including weapons, portraits, letters, the emperor's cologne bottles, a knife used in a foiled assassination attempt and even his stockings. The pieces came from a collection belonging to Monaco's royal family, which sold them to raise money for a palace renovation.
The star attraction was one of Napoleon's trademark black bicorn hats, one of 19 known to exist. Although mostly worn by Napoleon's chief veterinarian, who received it as a gift, the hat still went for 1.9 million euros, or about $2.4 million, bought by a South Korean food company, Harim. The presale estimate was €300,000 to €400,000.
Napoleon's bejeweled hunting rifle sold for €250,000 and a gilded crib for €200,000. The auction houses Osenat and Binoche et Giquello, which ran the sale, said it took in about €10 million, including taxes.
The prices were not unusual in the market for Napoleoniana. Beginning in the early 2000s, the value of Napoleonic relics has risen relentlessly, undented by the global recession. In 2007, Osenat sold a gold-encrusted saber worn by Napoleon for a record $6.5 million.
Now, with the bicentennial of the battle of Waterloo approaching, auction houses have been stoking an already heated market, and an unusually large number of objects have been appearing for sale. Last year, an engagement ring belonging to Napoleon's wife, Josephine, went for $1.2 million. The couple's marriage contract sold in June for more than $500,000. The hat's sale on Sunday made it one of the most expensive Napoleonic objects ever sold.
The rising prices have set off a new Napoleonic war of sorts, with private collectors competing aggressively with buyers for public museums.
Legally, French museums have first rights to items deemed of particular patriotic value and possess state budgets to buy them at auction. But in the case of Napoleon, public curators know it is a battle almost lost in advance.
'It's become very difficult to follow the prices,' said Christophe Beyeler, a representative of the Museum Service of France who was at the auction on behalf of several museums.
Napoleon rose from the chaos that followed the 1789 revolution to rule France from 1799 to 1815, minus an interlude on the island of Elba. In the process, he forged a spectacular personal myth that seems to particularly fascinate moneyed collectors. The story of his rise from obscure lieutenant to conqueror of Europe resonates with the newly rich and entrepreneurs.
'Napoleon is still the ultimate personification of the self-made man,' said Andrew Roberts, author of the best-selling biography 'Napoleon: A Life.'
Mr. Ledoux, who owns 500 pieces, including one of the famous hats, put it another way: 'Napoleon is the American dream.'
This admiration has coincided with a multiplication of millionaires globally since the end of the Cold War that has driven a broad demand for contemporary art work and souvenirs with historical value, which in a time of economic crisis are seen as stable assets with values that are only likely to go up.
Auctioneers specializing in Napoleonic objects said that the surge in prices had previously been driven by newly arrived Russian collectors but that demand was now coming from all directions.
Oleg Antoshin, a Russian businessman, bought one of the auction's prize pieces, a medallion containing a lock of Napoleon's hair, for about €37,500. It was his first time bidding.
'I'm going to wear it,' Mr. Antoshin said Saturday, standing next to his wife, who he said had encouraged him to buy the locket. 'Napoleon did impossible things. I think it will bring great luck in my development.'
Most of the objects on sale over the weekend went for prices ranging from several hundred dollars to several hundred thousand, with most achieving double their estimated prices. A pair of Napoleon's gloves, estimated at €6,000, sold for €60,000.
'There has been a snowball effect,' said Pierre Branda, head of the heritage department at the Fondation Napoléon, a prestigious historical society.
Mr. Branda recalls buying three sheets of English grammar exercises completed by Napoleon while in exile on St. Helena. At the time, he bought the papers for $50,000; today he would expect them to go for $250,000.
'It goes up and up and up,' he said.
As prices have risen, so has the amount of memorabilia available, as the opportunity to make a fortune tempts collectors to part with items they once might have kept. The French newspaper Le Parisien called it 'Napoléomania.'
'That is glamour. That is sexy,' said Pierre-Jean Chalençon, a major private collector in France, gesturing at a bust of Napoleon that sold for about €543,000. Mr. Chalençon owns close to 2,000 items. On Sunday, he was wearing an onyx necklace, given by Napoleon to his brother Jérôme, and a bracelet belonging to Napoleon's sister.
'The prices are crazy,' Mr. Chalençon said, before buying a decorated plate for about €420,000.
Across the aisle, Mr. Beyeler, the government representative, agreed. He had also been charged with buying the plate but could not afford it. 'The state doesn't have €420,000 to spend,' he said.
A public museum has the right to buy an item after the final bid is made, but it has to pay the bid price. As a result, the war for pieces is a guerrilla one: Museum representatives hide in the audience, crossing their fingers that prices will not rise too high and then jumping up the moment after the gavel seals a sale to announce the state will take the piece.
On Sunday, the audience cheered after Mr. Beyeler cried out triumphantly that a tiny cherub figurine once owned by Napoleon would be saved for a public collection. It cost about €8,000.
But the rising cost of Napoleon artifacts and the straitened finances of France's public institutions mean museums lack the funds to keep all but a few pieces from slipping into private hands.
'The budget of the state is really very low right now,' said Anne de Chefdebien, curator at the Musée de la Légion d'Honneur. 'They only buy pieces that are really, really lacking from their collections.'
At the auction, Mr. Chalençon, the French collector, was preparing to outbid the state museums again over a battle flag.
'They won't get it, trust me,' he said with a grin, 'because I am going to pay very, very high.'
He paid €60,000. The state did not bid.
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