Well, this is awkward. Where to go from here with a title like that. Maybe we should recap with a bit of history and work our way to why and how Napoleon’s wiener is in New Jersey.
After Napoleon was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo he was exiled to the British island of St. Helena. While Napoleon was on the island his captors poisoned him with arsenic and he died. For some unknown reason the doctor performing the autopsy decided to remove his wiener and give it to a priest.
The journey of Napoleon’s wiener
The priest, known as Vignali saw some potential value in the relic and smuggled it to Corsica where it was passed onto family members until 1916. In 1916 a bookseller in London purchased Vignali collection of unusual artefacts. Eleven years later it went on display in New York. Napoleon’s wiener was said to resemble something “like a maltreated strip of buckskin shoe-lace or shriveled eel,” and it was even mocked for its small size, although the small size was probably due in part the preservation process. Napoleon’s wiener eventually found its way to Christie’s auction house in London in 1969, but failed to sell. The failed sale was even mocked by some British newspapers covering it with the headline “Not tonight, Josephine!”
Napoleon’s wiener arrives in New Jersey
In 1977 a leading urologist from New Jersey, Dr. John Lattimer, purchased Napoleon’s wiener at auction for $3000. Dr. Lattimer bought the wiener to end the ridicule once and for all, and since it’s purchase it has not been seen again in public.
An entire book has been written about this magnificent, and unexpected journey of a once great man’s private part. You can purchase the book by clicking on this link or the image of the book below.
