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A lock of hair belonging to Lt. Col. Custer was recently sold for 12G.
On the topic of most unusual items sold by an auctions house, we heard that a lucky bidder would have the chance to seize something that once belonged to Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer. No, it’s not his sword nor his uniform, but a lock of hair. Interested parties will be able to bid for the item on the auctions house’s website.
Custer Sent the Lock of Hair to His Wife Before Little Bighorn
On Saturday, a Heritage Auctions spokesperson declared that a lock of hair belonging to Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer has been sold for $12,500. The auctions house refused to disclose the buyer’s name.
The lock of hair has quite an interesting study. According to the spokesperson, the item was bestowed by Glen Swanson, a Texan who spent the last three decades collecting memorabilia from the Battle of Little Bighorn.
Swanson says that he came across the perfectly preserved lock of hair while examining Custer’s war-time correspondence.
According to Swanson, throughout the American Civil War and, later, during the American-Indian Wars, the lieutenant-colonel frequently wrote to Elizabeth ‘Libbie’ Bacon Custer, his wife about the situation on the front.
Apparently, before the Battle of Little Bighorn, Custer visited the regiment’s barber to get a haircut. Instead of disposing of the hair, Custer took a blonde lock, sealed it inside an envelope and sent it to Libbie. Swanson said that Libbie wanted her husband hair for her wig. The last owner of the lock of hair said there were about 50 pieces of hair in the envelope.
Conclusion
The lock of hair is hardly the most unusual item sold during an auction. Last month, a London-based auction house sold a postcard believed to have been written by none other than Jack the Ripper or the Terror of Whitechapel.
Image source: Wikipedia
