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Posted By: David

Keeping hair is more than a modern collecting practice. In the old days it was not uncommon for, for example, a man going off to war to carry his wife's or daughter's locket of hair entombed in a small painted portrait or photograph (Daguerreotype or ambrotype) of the woman/girl. Similarly, the wife or daughter would keep a locket of the man's hair in similar manner. Modern collectors of Daguearreotypes and ambrotypes will occasionally find photographs with the hair still inside.