How Much Would You Pay for a Famous Gun?

A gun auctioned off for half a million dollars because of its literary past. A 7mm six shooter was used in a love affair/brawl. Paul Verlaine and Arthur Rimbaud were engaged in an argument in Brussels in 1873.

The courtship between them was tumultuous to say the least. Verlaine tried to leave Rimbaud to go back to his wife. As the two were arguing Verlaine took out the now-famous gun, and fired it at Rimbaud. The bullet hit Rimbaud on the wrist and the wall behind him. Verlaine then goes to the hospital with Rimbaud for medical care. After Rimbaud was released, Verlaine took out his pistol again and fired it. Rimbaud called police and Verlaine was arrested.

Verlaine was sentenced to two years even though Rimbaud regretted calling police and asked that he not be charged with a crime. During Verlaine’s incarceration, he wrote poetry, which was called Cellulairement. Rimbaud did something similar, and wrote A Season in Hell. Sadly, Rimbaud died at 37 years of age of cancer. His poetry continues to be popular today.

How much would you pay for a famous gun? Recently, this same gun used a century and a half ago was sold for $460,618. This is seven times more than what it’s truly worth. The owner has not come forward, but his motivation to put down such a large sum of money likely comes from its role in leading to some of the greatest poetry in all of history.

So, how did the gun make it all the way to the present day? It was stored in a cupboard. After Verlaine was arrested and incarcerated, the gun was sent to the Montigny armory in Brussels. A weapons collector found it, and ended up keeping it in great condition.

The love affair between Verlaine and Rimbaud is a great love story. Two deeply in love with another, but drawn apart because of society and circumstances. While the gun may just be a gun to some people, it does have great significance to anyone who understands how this gun showed how two lovers wanted to love, but couldn’t. What shows the true love of these two is that even in the end Rimbaud still felt that Verlaine wasn’t trying to kill him out of vengeance, but out of love for him. Even though he nearly ended his life, he still felt that he shouldn’t be imprisoned because it was all done simply out of true love Who can be mad at that?