Hammer falls with guillotine unsold

NO ONE bought a guillotine that was up for auction in Nantes yesterday, despite its reserve price dropping €10,000 from initial estimates.

The guillotine, which it had been claimed had been used on a number of battlefields in the 19th century, was the prize lot in the auction.

But, shortly before it went under the hammer at the Talma auction house, auctioneer François-Xavier Duflos told prospective buyers that he had been asked to present the lot as a “replica guillotine”.

Prior to the auction, Mr Duflos had said that the guillotine had been used during the Second Empire and was in “working condition”.

It had been expected to fetch between €50,000 and €60,000.