Sotheby’s to auction ‘substantial’ lock of Beethoven’s hair

LONDON (Reuters) – British auction house Sotheby’s plans to sell on Tuesday what it says is a “substantial” lock of Ludwig van Beethoven’s hair that the German composer himself cut off and gave to a pianist friend in 1826.

The lock is expected to fetch up to 15,000 pounds ($19,000) but the director of books and manuscripts at Sotheby’s, Simon Maguire, said it could end up selling for more than that.

“There’s already been quite a lot of interest,” he said.

Recounting the story behind the item, Maguire said Austrian pianist Anton Halm had asked for a lock of hair to give to his wife as a keepsake but Beethoven’s servant had instead sent the hair of a goat, infuriating the composer.

“And he then gave (Halm), in a piece of paper, a lock of hair that he had just himself cut from the back of his head, a substantial lock. And he said this one at least you can be sure is genuine,” Maguire said.

Halm later gave the lock to a pupil, Julius Epstein, who was professor…