On Sunday, a rare letter written in English by French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte hauled in more than $406,000 (nearly five times the original estimate) at an auction in Paris.  
Fortunately, spelling doesn't count.  
The one-page note, dated March 9, 1816, was actually a homework exercise that Napoleon sent off to be corrected by an English teacher during his exile on the island of Saint Helena. It was written just one year after his famous defeat at Waterloo. 
According to the AP, it took Napoleon a painstaking two hours to write the 13-line letter, which is filled with mistakes as he struggled to learn the language. For example, it starts out: "It's two o'clock after midnight, I have enow sleep, I go then finish the night with you."
The French ruler died five years later on May 5, 1821.  
A locket with a portrait of Napoleon shown at the bottom of the letter was sold at the same auction.  
Napoleon Letter