Who Has Napoleon's Penis?

Read the fascinating story about how and where Napoleon's penis traveled after a post-mortem examination.

Napoleon's penis was last purchased by an American urologist, John K. Lattimer, who supposedly paid $3,000 for it and bought it because he wanted to remove the object from public scrunity. But, let us start at the beginning.

Napoleon, the former Emperor of France, died in 1821 in exile on the island of Saint Helene. A post-mortem examination at the Napoleon's request before death was carried out by a doctor, Francesco Antommarchi, in the presence of 17 witnesses. Although none of the witnesses confirmed it, the doctor supposedly removed Napoleon's penis from the body. In 1916, a descendant of one of the witnesses sold the remains of Napoleon's legacy to an English bookshop, which in 1924 sold everything to A.S.W. Rosenbach, who was an American dealer of rare books and manuscripts. Among these items, there was supposedly also a mummified penis of Napoleon himself.

The penis has changed a few owners prior to the current one and it was last purchased by Dr. Lattimer in 1977. Dr. Lattimer had the item X-rayed and it was determined that it was in fact a human penis, but the French government has not agreed to provide a sample of Napoleon’s DNA for comparison. Dr. Lattimer passed away in 2007 and his daughter has inherited the item. She had offers to sell it and at least one of them was worth $100,000.

If you decide for a post mortem-examination, carefully read the small print.