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This gold heart-shaped locket contains a lock of Marie Antoinette’s hair, set under glass or rock crystal; on the other side of the curl [alternate view here] is an inscribed card that reads ”A lock of hair of MARIE ANTOINETTE, Queen of FRANCE given by her to Lady Abercorn by whom it was given to her sister Lady Julia Lockwood, whose daughter Lady Napier gave it to W.S. 1853.” 

A curator at the British Museum, where the locket is held, provides some historical context:

Text from the catalogue of the Hull Grundy Gift (Gere et al 1984) no. 579:

If this blonde lock of hair is indeed that of Marie Antoinette it must have been presented before the abortive flight to Varennes in 1791, when the King and Queen tried to escape from France. Marie Antoinette’s hair went white overnight, and on her return to Paris she presented a ring to the Princesse de Lamballe containing a lock of her hair which was inscribed ‘Blanchis par la douleur (whitened by sorrow; see Campan 1833). The ring is now in the Musée Carnavalet, Paris. (C.Gere)

Discovered via all things amazing

(via zombiesscircus)