4.6 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 6 December 2022
⏱️ 14 minutes
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0:00.0 | In 1994, two men had their eye on an auction. |
0:05.2 | It was a Sotheby's auction, the house famous for selling Cartier jewels and art by Andy |
0:10.8 | Warhol and Picasso. |
0:13.0 | You don't need to know the buyer's names for this story, but it's really too good of a |
0:18.2 | detail to leave out. |
0:20.0 | Their names were Ira Brilliant and Che Guevara, not that Che Guevara, a different one. |
0:27.2 | Ira and Che were not interested in bidding on a painting or anything like that. |
0:33.0 | They were interested in a pretty unusual item. |
0:36.6 | In comparison to other Sotheby's auctions, it was also pretty cheap. |
0:40.7 | The opening bid was set for 2,000 pounds or around $4,000 in today's money. |
0:46.9 | The bidding began. |
0:48.9 | It's not unusual for a bidding war to break out at Sotheby's. |
0:54.0 | One of those Andy Warhol paintings sold for nearly $19 million. |
0:59.0 | In 2012, Edvard monks the Scream sold for a record $120 million. |
1:05.6 | But on this day, back in 1994, it was a much quieter affair. |
1:10.9 | The bidding closed in a matter of minutes and Ira and Che had succeeded. |
1:16.8 | They bought their coveted item for just $3,600 pounds, around $8,000 in today's money. |
1:25.0 | Ira and Che were now the proud owners of a single lock of hair. |
1:31.5 | It was a lock of hair from the head of none other than Ludwig von Beethoven. |
1:46.4 | I'm Dylan Therese and this is Atlas Obscura, a celebration of the world's strange, incredible |
1:51.4 | and wondrous places. |
1:55.5 | Today we follow that lock of Beethoven's hair all the way to the Library of Congress, |
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