Louis XVI Blood on Cloth to Be Auctioned in Paris
A piece of cloth that is suspected of having the blood of former French King Louis XVI is to be auctioned off in Paris on April 3.
The auction is being facilitated by Paul Fraser Collectibles, which stated the cloth will be sold inside a miniature coffin with a specialized note attached.
The note will stated that the cloth contains "the precious blood of Louis XVI, 21 January 1793."
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Although DNA tests have been conducted on the sample, there has been no definite word that the blood is authentic, but that has not stopped eager bidders from jockeying for the chance to bid on this unique bit of history.
Historians reveal that January 21, 1793 is the day when King Louis XVI was beheaded following the 1789 French Revolution, and that those in attendance of the execution took pieces of clothing and even bits of his hair after he died.
The bloodied cloth was thought to contain the royal blood after a team of researchers claimed they identified the blood to be that of King Louis XVI. A sample of blood was analyzed using DNA identification methods.
A new study in "Forensic Science International" claimed to have identified dried blood on a cloth to be that of the King of France, who was beheaded more than 200 years ago.
Researchers needed a way to compare the blood sample and were able to recover a DNA sample from the mummified head of King Henri IV, who ruled France from 1589 until 1610 and was a direct ancestor to King Louis XVI.
"Taking into consideration that the partial Y-chromosome profile is extremely rare in modern human databases, we concluded that both males could be paternally related," the study read. "Historically speaking, this forensic DNA data would confirm the identity of the previous Louis XVI sample."
While there are still doubts the co-author of the report, Carles Lalueza Fox, of the Institut de Biologia Evolutiva in Barcelona, was almost certain of the link between the two samples.
"250 times more likely that the [owners of the] head and the blood are paternally related, than unrelated," Fox explained in a statement.
