In 1811, Mälzel took the Turk to Milan to show Eugène de Beauharnais, the Prince of Venice and Viceroy of Italy. Beauharnais liked it so much, that he bought the Turk for 30,000 francs – three times what Mälzel had paid – and kept it for four years. In 1815, Mälzel went to Beauharnais in Munich and bought the Turk back. 