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Napoleon’s engagement ring to Joséphine to go on sale in Paris

On March 24th, the diamond and sapphire engagement ring Napoleon Bonaparte gave to his beloved Joséphine will go up for auction at the Osenat auction house in Fontainebleau, France.

It is estimated to fetch up to $20,000.

The 18th-century gold ring is adorned with two stones, a diamond and a sapphire, both teardrop-shaped, sitting beside each other and facing opposite directions.

The carat-weight of each gem is approximately one carat each, Jean Christophe Chatignier, a partner with the auction house, tells Forbes.

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Empress Joséphine was six years older than Napoleon, and was a 32-year-old widow and mother of two at the time of their wedding on March 9, 1796.

The ring is considered "a very ordinary one" by some, Chataignier tells the Daily Mail, as the would-be emperor had very little money at the time of his engagement.

After their wedding, Napoleon left almost immediately to command the French army near Italy. His passionate love letters helped solidify the Napoleon-Joséphine love story in the history books.

"I am going to bed with my heart full of your adorable image…I cannot wait to give you proofs of my ardent love…To live within Josephine is to live in the Elysian fields. Kisses on your mouth, your eyes, your breast, everywhere, everywhere," he wrote.

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Josephine's infidelities were equally as famous. According to PBS, she rarely replied to her husband's romantic letters and, instead, took up an affair with a young officer.

Even though Napoleon formally adopted her son Eugène and cousin Stéphanie, Joséphine did not produce her husband an heir — and he eventually had their marriage annulled so he could marry for one.

"I have married a womb," he reportedly said of his second marriage.

In March 1810, Napoleon married Marie Louise, Archduchess of Austria, who bore him a son: Napoleon Francis Joseph Charles. He became Napoleon II in 1814 and reigned for only two weeks before he died of tuberculosis at the age of 21.

On his deathbed in exile, it is believed Napoleon's last word was "Joséphine."