A romantic gift

This delicate ring was a gift from an 18-year-old Napoleon Bonaparte to his first love, 26-year-old Caroline du Colombier. 

At the end of 1785, the young Bonaparte, fresh out of the Military School in Paris at the age of 16, was assigned to a regiment garrisoned in Valence. Received by the good society of this city in the south-east of France, he notably frequented the residence of the distinguished and witty Madame du Colombier. He also went to her country house, in Basseaux, where he made friends with the two daughters of his hostess, and mainly with Caroline.

A little older than Napoleon, Caroline du Colombier is considered the first woman with whom he had a romance. But the latter remained very chaste if we are to believe the Emperor himself. "At Saint Helena, Napoleon remembered meeting with Caroline 'on a crisp morning' to eat cherries: 'We couldn't have been more innocent than us; I still remember a crisp morning, in the the middle of summer, at daybreak; we will believe it with difficulty, all our happiness was reduced to eating cherries together”,

A marvel in gold set with a carved ivory scene featuring characters picking cherries, it was sold for €30,000  in 2017.

If only this fabulous ring could talk, what a tale it would surely tell ♥

Leeann x