Pistols Napoleon planned to use to kill himself sold in France for €1.7m

Napoleon said to have tried to use the guns after defeat of French campaign, but grand squire removed the gunpowder, so French ruler tried poison instead

Two pistols that Napoleon Bonaparte once intended to use to kill himself were sold in France on Sunday for 1.69m (US$1.8m), the auction house said, with the government banning their export so that they stay in the country as national treasures.

The identity of the buyer at the auction in Fontainebleau south of Paris of the finely adorned objects was not made public but the final sale price, with fees, was above the estimates of 1.2-1.5m.