Document signed by Napoleon Bonaparte. Compiègne, France, 8 April 1810. 1 page, 8 x 12 in., mounted and framed to 28 x 23 in. with portrait of Napoleon and informational plaque.

A handsomely mounted official report signed by Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) as Emperor and King of France. In this document, the French Minister of Finance writes to Napoleon regarding the difficulty surrounding the circulation of currency inside his empire, having “attributed the cause to the concentration of metal in the banks.” 

The document was penned near the peak of Napoleon's rule as French Emperor, having recently won the War of the Fifth Coalition. With the annexation of the Papal States (May 1809, February 1810), and the imminent annexations of Holland and northern Westphalia, Napoleon ruled nearly 40% of the European population either directly or through his client kingdoms. 

When Napoleon signed this report, he had just married Marie Louise of Austria (1791-1847), daughter of Francis II and Maria Theresa of the Holy Roman Empire, on April 2nd. The marriage had been arranged to form with one of Europe's major royal houses and represented a shift in French policy toward stronger ties with Austria, abandoning an already strained relationship with Russia.

This report came from Compiègne, a town in northern France that would later prove historic during the World Wars. 

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