Napoleon'spenis was allegedly amputated during an autopsy shortly after his death in 1821. The story is unverified since noprimary source records such an incident taking place. Since 1821, the item has passed through several owners, includingA. S. W. Rosenbach, who exhibited it in New York City in 1927. It was purchased byJohn K. Lattimer in 1977, and is still owned in his family. The preserved penis is described as resembling a "piece of leather or a small, shriveled eel".[1] Even if it did belong to Napoleon, it is unknown what it looked like during his lifetime.
Napoleon was exiled toSaint Helena in theAtlantic Ocean after losing theBattle of Waterloo.[2] He died on the isle on May 5, 1821.[3] After his death, an autopsy was conducted and some have claimed thatFrançois Carlo Antommarchi, the doctor conducting the autopsy, cut his penis off,[2][4] along with several other body parts.[5] It is unclear whether the cut was intentional or accidental.[3] Some state that Antommarchi may have been bribed to cut it off by Napoleon's chaplain as revenge for Napoleon calling him "impotent".[6] None of the accounts fromSt. Helena mention the removal of the emperor's penis and Napoleon's biographer, Philip Dwyer, calls the claim that Antommarchi cut off the penis "highly fanciful".[7]
The alleged penis passed into the possession of Napoleon's chaplain, who smuggled it out of St. Helena to his home onCorsica. It remained in the priest's family until 1916[1][8] whenMaggs Bros. Ltd., a bookselling company based in London,[3] purchased it. In 1924,A. S. W. Rosenbach, a Philadelphia-based bookseller, purchased it.[2][4][5][9]
The penis went on display in 1927 at New York City'sMuseum of French Art. A reviewer present at the exhibition fromTime described it as similar to a "maltreated strip of buckskin shoelace".[10] Others present considered it to look like a "piece of leather or a shriveled eel".[1] Rosenbach sold the item to a collector named Donald Hyde, whose wife gave it to John F. Fleming after Hyde's death. Fleming was a bookseller who had been close to Rosenbach. Another collector purchased it and attempted unsuccessfully to sell the penis at an auction throughChristie's.[3] After the auction,James Comyn was reading an affidavit about Eric LeVine, a collector of items relating to Napoleon, and instead of calling the item a "penis" euphemistically referred to it as a "certain part".[11] Aurologist and artifact collector namedJohn K. Lattimer purchased the item in 1977 for $3,000 (equivalent to $15,567 in 2024). His daughter, who inherited it upon his death, was offered at least $100,000 for it.[2][4][5][10]
The preserved penis was described by Judith Pascoe inThe New York Times as "barely recognizable as a human body part" and its authenticity is unclear.[8][5] A documentary that aired onChannel 4,Dead Famous DNA, described it as "very small" and measured it to be 3.8 centimetres (1.5 in).[4] It is not known what size it was during Napoleon's lifetime. The item's current owner has allowed ten people to see it and it has never been recorded on camera.[4]
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