Hair Jewelry Collection
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APPRAISER:
When you came to my table, I just couldn't believe the extent of this collection of hair jewelry and hair memorabilia. You have here really the birth almost of the industry, from the pattern making, which I have never seen patterns, and actually books that tell you exactly how many strands of hair you need to make the bracelets.
GUEST:
That's right.
APPRAISER:
I mean, that alone is a great find. And then this great book on hair culture, which I would love to read. But over here, these are magazines from the 1860s printed in Philadelphia, it's called Peterson's. I call it "the Martha Stewart of the 1860s." You can learn how to make lace, bake a cake, and this shows wonderful hair jewelry. And this card here shows what I call works in progress. You've got different patterns of hair, different colors and styles that are not done yet. This is a long 54-inch strand of different samples of the kind of weavings that you can do. This is one of my favorites. It's a photograph of how do you dry your long hair, and she clipped it on a clothesline. I think it's absolutely charming. And this brooch showing a swivel where two examples of hair plaiting are shown. Even down to this Hall's Vegetable Sicilian Hair Renewer. It's an advertising card, and the Southerland Sisters, the soap that they would use and advertise. And here is a photograph of the seven sisters actually showing them with clean hair. But the one I love the best is the photograph of you letting your hair down and just showing how beautiful your hair is. And you did tell me you did not cut it since you 13.
GUEST:
No, I haven't cut it. Well, I've trimmed the bottoms a foot or two once in a while.
APPRAISER:
I guess everything comes down to dollars and cents. It's very difficult to evaluate this collection. It's so interesting, it's so extensive, but if I had to guess, a museum might want to own it, between $4,000 and $6,000.
GUEST:
You're kidding!
APPRAISER:
Yes, can you believe that, for hair?
GUEST:
I am surprised, I am surprised.
APPRAISER:
Well, I'm not and I'm thrilled.
Appraisal Details
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Value can change: The value of an item is dependent upon many things, including the condition of the object itself, trends in the market for that kind of object, and the location where the item will be sold. These are just some of the reasons why the answer to the question "What's it worth?" is so often "It depends."
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