I ran across an article about the famous Urologist, Dr. John Lattimer, who once purchased Napoleon Bonaparte's penis for forty thousand dollars. When the doctor died in 2007, he was ninety-two years of age. His daughter Evan Lattimer of Kansas City, Missouri, is the person who originally came across the remains of Napoleon’s penis. Which was hidden neatly in a briefcase that was tucked away, under the doctor’s own bed. Apparently the former Chairman of Urology at Columbia University in New York, had purchased the mummified penis in 1969, to retire it from its former freak show status.

From the moment he purchased the penis, Dr. Lattimer refused to let anyone see it. Not even his family was of aware he owned it. How amazing is that? Quite the extraordinary character, Dr. Lattimer truly valued and loved off-the-wall, weird, historical oddities. He was an avid collector of military artifacts, and there were floors of his private residence, dedicated to his passion. According to the New York Times, one of the doctor's prize possessions was the sword of Ethan Allen.

One could write that the doctor took great pleasure out of obtaining weird or rare objects. He found pure enjoyment from the most bizarre relics, especially those of rare, historical, significance. It is my understanding, if an item was of some great historical significance, like a body part of Napoleon's would be, Dr. Lattimer was the man who had to buy it. He was indeed a Robert Ripley, kind of collector.