The story I got was from a man in his late 80s, who said that it was his great-grandmother's, and it was the hair of her Confederate officer beau who was killed during the Civil War. I have no record of the soldier's name and no authentication, although I believe the story. Kristi Click here for the appraisal. According to Larry of Magpie Mercantile in Missoula, Mont., during the Civil War period these pieces were very popular. A soldier going away to war would leave a lock of hair in a brooch as a memento to a loved one.
Values increase if the hair is inlaid or if there is any other intricacy.