"The Key to Napoleon's Room", circa 1815

Lot Closed

January 14, 04:10 PM GMT

Estimate

3,000 - 5,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

Property of the descendants of William & Robert Adam

"The Key to Napoleon's Room"

circa 1815

a English steel door key together with a piece of paper inscribed in manuscript 'Key of the Room at Longwood, in which Napoleon died and which I took out of the lock myself / C. R. Fox, St Helena, 6th Sept. 1822' with a further outer envelope inscribed in manuscript 'Key of the Room at St Helena, in which Napoleon died & which I got there out of the door in 1822...' and a further piece of wrap of paper inscribed 'Bit of the Paper, close to the spot where Napoleon's bed, in which he died, stood / St Helena 1822 C.R. Fox'

key 13cm. long; 5in.

By repute Longwood House, St Helena;

Charles Richard Fox (1796–1873);

Possibly for his mother Elizabeth Vassall Fox, Baroness Holland (1771–1845);

Thence by descent

Charles Fox's mother, Baroness Holland was an admirer of Napoleon, having met him at Malmaison in 1802. She corresponded with him at Elba in 1814 and sent books and sweetmeats to St. Helena. The former Emperor bequeathed to her a gold snuff-box mounted with a cameo, a Papal gift at the signing of the treaty of Tolentino in 1797. The Baroness procured relics relating to him which included a ring and cross of the Legion of Honour, a sock which he had worn at his death, and a copy of the ‘Edinburgh Review’ from 1816 with his annotations in pencil. It is highly like that the present lot formed a part of her small collection of mementoes.