Short answers, pulled from the story.
Napoleon died on the 5th of May 1821 on the island of Saint Helena. An autopsy followed his death and some accounts claim François Carlo Antommarchi removed the emperor's penis during that procedure.
John K. Lattimer purchased the item in 1977 for three thousand dollars. His daughter inherited it upon his death and was offered at least one hundred thousand dollars for it.
The alleged item passed into the possession of Napoleon's chaplain after he smuggled it out of St. Helena to his home on Corsica. It remained in the priest's family until 1916 when Maggs Bros Ltd purchased it.
A reviewer present at the 1927 exhibition described the object as similar to a maltreated strip of buckskin shoelace. Others considered it to look like a piece of leather or a shriveled eel.
Experts question whether the artifact truly belongs to Napoleon because no primary source records such an incident taking place. The current state of the item makes authentication difficult for historians and collectors alike.