Abraham Lincoln’s hair sells for more than $81,000 at auction

That’s a hair-raising amount of money.

A lock of Abraham Lincoln’s hair — along with a telegram regarding the former president’s assassination — sold for $81,250 at an auction over the weekend.

The hair, which was sold through the RR Auction of Boston, measures about 2 inches long. It was taken from a postmortem examination that took place after the 16th president was killed by John Wilkes Booth in 1865.

The telegram, which features a splatter of blood on it, arrived to Dr. Lyman Beecher Todd — a cousin of the president’s widow, Mary Todd Lincoln — in Washington on April 14, 1865.

“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,” said Bobby Livingston of RR Auction.

The auction house had aimed to receive $75,000 for the hair and telegram combo. Saturday marked the final day of the auction.

Before then, the lock of Lincoln’s hair had most recently been sold in 1999.

With News Wire Services