How Napoleon Bonaparte's penis came to the United States and will return back to France

In 1977, for the severed penis of Napoleon Bonaparte (or at least what was considered such) they paid an absolutely fabulous sum for those times - $3000. However, the path that this exhibit has traveled during its existence is perhaps even more amazing, writes Culturology.

It is believed that the penis was cut off by the doctor who performed Napoleon's autopsy. Then, doctors (and there were several of them) not only established the cause of death of the commander - stomach cancer, but also cut out his heart and stomach. These organs were placed in silver vases and buried along with the emperor himself in a sarcophagus, which is now located in Paris in the Invalides.

Фото: Depositphotos

However, it is believed that the doctor then cut off not only these two organs, and Napoleon was buried ... not completely. To open the sarcophagus, no one today will not allow, therefore, to speculate on this topic can be infinite. Anyway, the history of this exhibit asserts that at that time doctor Francesco Antommarki furtively cut off Napoleon's penis from other doctors and hid it from his colleagues. At least, Napoleon’s valet wrote about this in his memoirs.

Further mention of Napoleon's penis appears in the statements of Abbot Vignali, who lives in Corsica. He claimed that he possessed part of the commander’s personal belongings and thus a very important organ. After the abbot's death, his entire fortune, including this collection of rarities, passed to the abbot's sister. From my sister to her son. And it was he, Charles Marie Gianettini, who in 1916 made a complete list of all the relics that he inherited from his uncle.

This collection was quite impressive, and Charles himself decided that it was enough to pass it on by inheritance, it was time to get things moving and exchange it for a decent amount. So the penis was, among other things, sold to the booksellers Maggs brothers and sent across the continent to London. The brothers also did not keep the relic and sold it again - it was acquired by a well-known company that sold books. Then, in 1924, this purchase cost £400, which was an impressive amount. And then the penis was first presented to the public - it was exhibited at the Museum of French Art in New York.

20 years later, the company resold the penis to the American collector Donald Hyde - and this small exhibit set off across the Atlantic to another continent. A quarter of a century later, after Donald’s death, his widow sold the relic (as well as other exhibits from the collection of Napoleon’s personal belongings) to another collector, Bruce Gimelson.

Bruce Gimelson also decided to sell his possessions and put them up for auction at Christie's, but he flatly refused to sell his collection piecemeal, asking for exorbitant amounts of money for everything. The auction did not agree to such a deal, and Gimelson tried to independently find a buyer for all this stuff. Alas, in vain. Even the French government refused to buy Napoleon's personal belongings from him - either the evidence of their origin was not convincing enough, or the price was not very adequate. One way or another, almost ten years of unsuccessful attempts to sell the collection led Gimelson to the decision to divide it into parts and sell the exhibits separately. For everything about everything, he received 100 thousand dollars.

Then the penis was bought by the American urologist John Lattimer - it was he who paid $3000 for it. As he said, he did not want unscrupulous people to harm this important historical relic. Lattimer kept the penis in a glass box specially created for this exhibit until his death (2007). This box stood under the doctor’s bed, and in order to avoid the gossip of those same “unscrupulous people,” Lattimer flatly refused to show Napoleon’s penis to strangers.

Фото: Depositphotos

After Lattimer's death, Napoleon's penis was inherited by the doctor's daughter, who decided not to stand on ceremony with this precious exhibit and sell it. She asked for 100 thousand dollars (against the 3 for which it was bought) - and this was not the amount for the entire collection, but only for the penis itself. At the same time, she refused to do a DNA analysis, which today is already possible to do and, accordingly, can confirm whether this exhibit is really what it is stated to be. Is it any wonder then that there were no buyers for such a dubious purchase?

One of the few who saw this exhibit with his own eyes was Tony Perrottet, the author of a biography of Napoleon. In his book, he described this relic as "a very small, literally the size of a child's finger, piece of wrinkled skin, beige in color with whitish veins." After such “advertising” this exhibit may have even fewer potential buyers.

Read also on ForumDaily:

The White House: The History of the American Symbol

Dollar: the history of the American symbol

Bourbon: the history of the American symbol

Flag: the history of the American symbol

The history of the origin of the Star of David

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.