The ring which Napoleon gave to his future wife Josephine in 1796 sold on Sunday at French auction house Osenat, for almost 50 times the list price. The ring sold for an amazing $948,000 (£660,000), shattering its list price of $20,000.

Auction house spokeswoman Emily Villane said 'Not in my wildest dreams did I think we would outsell the estimate by more than 47 times. 'We based the estimates in our catalog on the actual market value of the ring, minus Napoleon and Josephine provenance'

The 18th century ring is created in gold and set with two pear shape stones, a blue sapphire and a white diamond; the stones are set side by side and facing opposite directions. Each gem is estimated to weight 1.00ct each.

The auction was held in honour of the 250th anniversary of the birth of Joséphine de Beauharnais, who became the Empress of France after marrying Napoleon Bonaparte.