With support from the University of Richmond

History News Network

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

Tooth believed Napoleon's sold at auction

A tooth, believed to have been extracted from Napoleon's mouth, was sold at auction in London, Thursday, Nov. 10, 2005, for 12,939 pounds (19,200 euros, US$22,600). The tooth, part of a small collection of Napoleon Bonaparte items, was bought by a private collector from England who asked to remain anonymous, said Chris Albury from Dominic Winter, an auction house in Swindon, southwest England. Albury said the previous owner, who died recently, was a Napoleonic scholar. The tooth came with papers tracing it back to Napoleon's physician Barry O'Meara, who apparently extracted it from the former French emperor's mouth in 1817 during the Frenchman's exile on the British island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean.
Read entire article at Boston Globe