George Washington‘s real-life hair is going up on sale for $50k at Auction.
The hair of the first President of the United States who served from 1789 to 1797 will be sold at auction next month though RR’s online auction house. It’s expected to rake in $50k or maybe more.
According to TMZ, a lock of white hair measuring in at 4 inches was cut by one of George’s relatives while he was serving as President in 1790. It was memorialized with a handwritten “letter of provenance” (like a certificate of authenticity) in 1889 as it was passed to different parties, including the man who introduced caramel candy to America.
The letter reads, in part … “This lock of hair was cut from the head of George Washington, about the year 1790, by a relative of his. It was presented by this same relative to Capt. Samuel Butman of Newburyport, Essex County, Massachusetts; with whom the aforesaid relative made several trips from Alexandria, Va, to the port of Newburyport.”
It was also written in the letter that Captain Butman‘s widow gave the relic to someone named George M. Elliott, who went on to gift it to the guy who finally gave it to C.F. Gunther, the caramel guy.
On December 14, 1799, George Washington died at his home after a brief illness and after losing about 40 percent of his blood.