Napoleon's tooth sold in British auction house

A tooth believed to have been extracted from Napoleon's mouth was sold at auction in London Thursday for 12,939 pounds (Ђ19,200, 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.

O'Meara passed the tooth on to General Maceroni, aide to the King of Naples, who was married to Napoleon's youngest sister Caroline. The current owner acquired the tooth from Maceroni's great granddaughter, Cecilia White, in 1956, the AP reports.

The upper right canine tooth, which is somewhat worn and shows signs of decay in the center, is still attached to its root.

Other items in the sale included a marble bust of Napoleon, an ivory figurine, painted miniatures, engravings and books. The whole collection sold for a total of about 22,000 pounds, Albury said. A.M.