A hIstorIc hat which belonged to Napoleon Bonaparate, and resided in Inverkip since the 19th century, has fetched £386,500 during an auction in London.

It was one of five rare Napoleonic relics belonging to the Shaw Stewart family, of Ardgowan Estate, which went under the hammer last Thursday evening. The sought after treasures sold off for more than £1.25 million at the world famous Christie’s.

The Christie’s website stated: “The convention of the time was to wear such hats with their corners pointing forward and back. In order to ensure he was instantly identifiable on the battlefield, Napoleon wore his sideways.

“Hatmaker Poupart and Cie of Paris is thought to have made about 120 hats for him, only a minority of which survive, one of which Christie’s is also selling this summer. He would order four new ones a year, and didn’t like to wear them new. Rather he had his valets break them in for him.

“This particular one, which is lined in olive-brown silk and has an interior circumference of 59cm — suggesting that Napoleon though comparatively short of stature had quite a large head — is known to have been worn at the Battle of Friedland in June 1807, in what was then Prussia and is now Kaliningrad and in which he was victorious against the Russians.” Full story in this week's Largs News.