Yes I held all 3 of these objects in my hands, which was quite an experience. They were sold at the Christies Paris auction of the Comte de Paris's belongings. Prices went through the roof. I bid for the ring with the Queen and King's hair, but I didn't get close....

Oh...to have held these things...or even to have seen them. Amazing...... I noticed that they were also offering Sevres porcelain dinner ware from the Tuileries. Such wonderful treasures at this auction! They let people touch them? I wish I could have. http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_ ... 0925bd5b32

How I envy you, Baron! The ring with the king and queen's hair...it must have been such a deep emotion....

I took a look at some of the things for auction and I must say that I would really have no desire to own the things with the king and queens hair. I just find it a bit strange to own their hair.

Hair was often bequeathed on death at those times (look at the scaffold victims who made packages of their hair for loved ones before going to their death) or even before during the lifetime of a person a momento. And as I'm quite 18th century in my head, I quite like the idea even now.

I also like this practice. Hair remain long, it is an ideal way to treasure someone's memory.
I have recently found my baby hair that my mom secured when my first haircut was....it's impressive.
I'm wondering how Marie Antoinette's hair look like. Hair color remain such a long time?

That is interesting. I read on another post here that she had almost red hair. Isn't that odd? Everyone imagines her blond.

Yes it's true. Her hair color was somewhere between blond and red, it was ginger. Mme Du Barry maliciously called her "La petite rousse" that means "the little ruddy".

I had completely forgotten that fact. I admit I do tend to think of MA as having been pure blonde, and I don't know where that misconception could have come from.

Indeed! Surely, sometimes all of us forget this information.

Although everyone knows that Marie Antoinette's hair color was almost red, paintings, souvenir objects and films suggest it was blond... they must be the funds of this very common mistake but it is not that serious I think Either way she was very very beautiful.

I agree, no matter what her hair, she was still very very lovely.

I would love to have the brooch (ring?) with the hair but can you imagine someone coming up to you and admiring it and you say 'oh it's Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI's hair--they were beheaded you know.'

Seriously I would also love to have something of theirs or hers. Here's what I think about the hair colors: the dark hair must be Louis Auguste's and the strawberry red is hers. I didn't know she had reddish hair--I thought she was an ash blond and I thought that sounded pretty unattractive.

Thank all of you so much for bringing these items to this forum.

What a gorgeous colour!

Hi, everyone! Here's a little more about the color "puce" and the color of Marie Antoinette's hair. This quote is from the book titled Crowned in a Far Country: Portraits of Eight Royal Brides by HRH Princess Michael of Kent (New York: Touchstone, 2007).

Her dresses were often of a single color--one favorite was a particular gold known as "cheveux de la reine," woven at Gobelin to match exactly a lock of the queen's ash-blond hair. Another new shade favored by Marie Antoinette was a purplish-brown, instantly dubbed by her husband "puce"--the color of a flea--and puce became the fashion that season, with various subshades of flea, such as "flea's belly," "flea's back" and "flea's thigh."

And then, there was that color they called "Dauphin ca-ca".