RICK HARRISON: What do we got
here? I have a signed letter
from Napoleon from 1809. He's writing to his
minister of war regarding gunpowder replacement. RICK HARRISON: OK, cool. So is that his initials? That is a signature
from that time period. OK. Looks a lot like mine, just. [laughter] [gunshot] JASON: This letter is
different because it talks about gunpowder, which I don't
think there is any letters out there with that documented. I'm going to be asking $3,000. Napoleon was a great general,
and he knew how to micromanage, and that's what I like the most. RICK HARRISON: The
little general. JASON: The little
general, that's right. RICK HARRISON: Napoleon
was a really, really, interesting guy. He was the lowest of the low
when it comes to royalty. But since he was
royalty, that really helped his rise to power. He was a little
bit [bleep] crazy. He worked like 18,
19 hours a day. You know, the reason why
he's bald right there is from pulling his hair out. Because he tried
to do everything. Napoleon Bonaparte is
considered one of the greatest military leaders in history. He had the little bit
of an ego, though. When he was crowned
emperor, he thought the only person actually worthy
to put the crown on his head was himself. So, I'm assuming
you want to sell it? JASON: I do. RICK HARRISON: All right. How much do you want for it? I'm asking $3,000? You know, I've been burned
on Napoleon signatures before, and I don't want
that happening again. So, do you mind if I
have someone look at it? JASON: Not at all. I'm going to give him a call. I'll get him down here, It
will take him 10 minutes. Sounds good. If this checks out, it could
be worth some good money, and is definitely sell-able. So I called in Steve, so
he can take a look at it. How you been? RICK HARRISON:
Parlais vous Francais? Uh, oui. Well this is what
I called you about. He says it's Napoleon. This letter is about
talking to a general that we need more gunpowder. And if you think about it,
that shouldn't be, you know, signed by Napoleon. It should be someone lower. But he was such a micromanager,
he had to do it himself. Of course. That's just how
the guy was, and it kind of lends to his character. RICK HARRISON: So is this legit? STEVE: Well, the first
thing I want to do is I'd like to see
it out of glass, so I can see if
it's printed or not. No problem. So can you take
that out for me? - Of course.
- OK. Through the years,
I've seen my fair share of Napoleon's signatures. They're kind of rushed,
hurried, more or less sloppy. Like he just wanted to get
through the stack of things he had to sign. So the first thing
I'm going to do is just put this on top of it. And we're just kind of going
to look at the ink on here. See the ink right here.
- Yeah. You see how it starts
to cut through it here? And when I look deeper,
there's no doubt in my mind, that's live ink on there. RICK HARRISON: OK, cool. The next thing I
want to do is rule out any kind of
secretarial versions, or something else
someone signed for him. The most typical
Napoleon signature is more or less this style. So basically, what we
see is almost an NP. His p is a little
oversized here. Here's another document. Take a look at it again. We see the same type
of letter formations. He comes right under here. Look at this pressure
he puts here. He's putting that
pressure there. RICK HARRISON: So you
think it's 100% legit? No question about it.
Yeah. All great signs, yeah. Great piece. Good, good, good. OK, so. What's it worth? The marketplace has
really been flooded with this guy's signature. There's a lot of it out there. And you know, collectors
still collect it. But you don't have a tidal wave
of people trying to rush out and get Napoleon signatures. Based on all that, the value
this is right about $1,500. OK. RICK HARRISON: Well thanks, man.
Appreciate it. Good to see you. Good luck with that, man. Thanks. Nice talking to you. You know I think a piece
signed by Napoleon, especially framed up
with a picture of him, I think that's something that
is going to go pretty quick. Because people do know this guy. He's a big part
of world history, and he's still a
desirable autograph. So you're not going to
give me $3,000 are you. RICK HARRISON: No. Well, now I can probably
sell it for around $1,500. There's definitely value here. I mean, it's not
like it's worthless. But you know, $1,500 is a
lot of money for someone to spend on an autograph. $2,000. Why in the world
would I ever do $2,000 when I could sell for $1,500?
OK. I'll tell you what.
I will give you a grand. Can't do it. Thanks bringing it in, man. If you change your
mind, come and see me. OK. I'm pretty disappointed,
because I just figured that it was
worth more, based on the contents of the letter. I guess I'll take it back
home, put it in my collection, and wait another 200 years. See if it'll go up
in value from there.
