Napoleon's hair sold in auction

A house clearer who found a lock of Napoleon Bonaparte's hair in a gold locket at a terraced house in Surrey is celebrating after it sold for £9,000.

The snip of greying hair was taken from the French emperor during his exile on the South Atlantic island of St Helena following his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

The locket was unearthed by the unnamed house clearer who had been called in to remove the contents of a terraced house before it was to be demolished following the death of its owner.

An inscription on the back of the case reads: “Hair of Napoleon 1st St Helena 1816.”

And a handwritten note inside states: “Obtained by Admiral George Brine when in command of HMS Mosquito guarding Napoleon at St Helena; given by him to my mother; at her death in 1867 given by us to my brother Captain George Brine RN after whose death in 1889 it passed to his widow and at her death in 1890 it came to me.”

The item was put up for sale at auction with a guide price of 1,500 but due to the level of interest in it - ramped up by the bi-centenary year of Waterloo - it sold for a hammer price of 7,500.

With all the fees added on, the anonymous buyer paid 9,000 for the lock of hair and locket, which was found at a house in Camberley, Surrey of England.

Chris Ewbank, of Surrey auctioneers Ewbanks, said: “It was a remarkable find.

“We have no idea how the locket came to be in a terraced house in the Camberley area and because of the death of the occupant, we have no way of finding out, but we have no reason to doubt the authenticity of the piece. It has cast iron provenance.

“It was a very good price and a very lucky find.”

Napoleon was exiled to St Helena, a British colony in the Atlantic following his defeat at Waterloo. He died in 1821, from stomach cancer.

Brine would have come into contact with Napoleon during the three years he spent guarding the island during the time HMS Musquito was stationed there.