A STRAND OF JOHN BROWN’S HAIR, WITH LOUIS MUSHRO & CHARLES HAMILTON CERTIFICATIONS; EX–SOL FEINSTONE COLLECTION

Mounted display comprising a small locket-sized frame housing a strand of John Brown’s hair, together with a photographic portrait and a full typed CERTIFICATION signed by noted autograph experts Louis Mushro (lifetime member, The Manuscript Society) and (copy) Charles Hamilton.

Mushro attests that the hair was removed by him from an “old envelope (pictured)” endorsed “John Brown’s Hair,” apparently in Brown’s hand, discovered among important John Brown letters formerly the property of Sol Feinstone, the distinguished manuscript collector. A copy of Hamilton’s endorsement is below Mushro’s statement.

Personal relics of John Brown, the abolitionist martyr of Harpers Ferry whose execution helped precipitate the Civil War, are exceptionally scarce. The present specimen benefits from dual expert certifications and distinguished provenance, making it a highly desirable artifact for collections of American reform movements, antislavery memory, and nineteenth-century political history.

[Civil War, Union Confederate] [African Americana, African American History, Black History, Slavery, Enslavement, Abolition, Emancipation] [Relics, Militaria]