Mary Queen of Scots' lock fetches a hair-raising £7200

Published on Thursday 28 August 2008 10:44

A LOCK of hair belonging to Mary Queen of Scots was snapped up for a whopping £7200.

The hair, which was mounted on top of a jewellery box and once belonged to Lady Belhaven, was originally expected to fetch around 3000 at auction in Edinburgh.

The jewellery box carries the inscription "A Lock of Queen Mary's Hair Which Belonged to the Late Lady Belhaven".

The historic artefact was discovered locked away in a secret drawer of a bureau in Lord Belhaven's official residence at Holyrood Palace in the mid-1800s.

An envelope with a handwritten note with the words "a lock of my own hair" and signed "Mary R" was also found alongside the lock.

The lock of hair and the jewellery box were sold to an anonymous buyer at the Lyon & Turnbull auction house.

A spokesperson for Lyon & Turnbull said: "The bidder who attended the auction won with an unbelievable bid, but he went away a very happy man.

"He told me he was a collector of historical Scottish pieces."

"He said he just had to have it."