At the auction

I've heard that there was an auction back in 1998 that auctioned off locks of hair from famous folks. Lincoln, Washington, Elivs Presley and others all had locks of hair that were sold but also included was Richthofen's. Where did a lock of Richthofen's hair come from and out of a strange curiosity, what's the going price for his hair? I heard Lincoln's sold for almost $5000. Thanx in advance.

[stevedrew]

Tony,
The lock of Richthofen's hair probably came from his head...sorry, I couldn't resist.
In all seriousness, it may not in fact be his hair. Most pictures of the Rittmeister show him to have very close cropped hair, making a "lock" of his hair very unlikely. This was the case almost all the way through his career. For someone to souveneir a lock of Rcihthofen's hair, he would have to have already achieved fame. Perhaps it was obtaind when Der Rittmeister sustained his head wound. His head (or at least the area surrounding the wound) would have been shaved, and he was famous enough then to warrant someone wishing to souveneir it, but once again I stress that because of the shortness of his hair, I would suggest that only a small area would have been shaved for the purpose of stitching him up. The hair would probably (though not necessarily) matted with blood. I have no idea of the worth of any such relic, nor how to ascertain the authenticity of it. I would run a mile from such offers.
Steve Drew