Lock of Beethoven’s hair sold for £28,000 at Sotheby’s.
Locks of Beethoven’s hair are known to have been taken from the composer on his deathbed in 1827, but an earlier and substantial sample featured in a recent London sale. Sold for £28,000 at Sotheby’s (25/20/13.9% buyer’s premium) against an estimate of £12,000-15,000, it is certainly a well-documented souvenir.
The pianist and composer Anton Halm (1789-1872) first met Beethoven in 1815 and it seems the two men got on well together. Beethoven liked Halm’s bluff, military manner and apparently bore him no ill-will, even after his wayward piano playing in the Choral Fantasia in 1817 brought the performance to a halt.