A Lock Of Abraham Lincoln’s Hair Just Sold For An Insane Amount Of Cash
At the recent RR Auction of Boston, an anonymous buyer purchased a lock of former president Abraham Lincoln’s hair for a ridiculous amount of money. Per the New York Post, the price was $81,250.
As the outlet states, the lock of hair was removed after he died. “The hair was removed during the 16th president’s postmortem examination after he was fatally shot at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, DC, by John Wilkes Booth.” It sold with a blood-stained telegram about his 1865 assassination.
The selling price was slightly more than the $75,000 that the auction house hoped they would get.
The New York Post explains where the hair came from, saying, “It was presented to Dr. Lyman Beecher Todd, a Kentucky postmaster and a cousin of the president’s widow, Mary Todd Lincoln. Todd was present when Lincoln’s body was examined.”
They add, “The hair is affixed to the official War Department telegram sent to Todd by George Kinnear, his assistant in the Lexington, Kentucky, post office. The missive was received in Washington at 11 p.m. April 14, 1865.”
The lock had been in the custody of the family since Lincoln’s death. It was last sold in an auction in 1999.
In a statement, Bobby Livingston, RR Auction’s executive vice president, confirms that the hair was, in fact, legit. He states, “When you are dealing with samples of Lincoln’s hair, provenance is everything — and in this case, we know that this came from a family member who was at the President’s bedside.”
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