The Donald P. Dow collection brought top bids totaling $803,889, doubling expectations, said Eric Bradley, spokesman for Dallas-based Heritage Auctions³.

 

Greg Dow said his father, who died five years ago, was fascinated with presidential assassinations⁵.

 

The lock of hair, taken by Surgeon General Joseph K. Barnes shortly after Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth, sold for $25,000.

 

An 1861 letter written by Booth to a friend boasting about his career and value as an actor sold for $30,000.

 

"The public was so disgusted by Booth's atrocity⁶ that most all letters, signatures and documents mentioning him were destroyed after Lincoln's death, making any that survive 150 years later exceedingly rare and valuable," said Don Ackerman, Consignment⁷ Director for Historical Americana at Heritage Auctions. "The Dow Collection gave us a unique perspective of the assassination⁴ and I doubt we'll ever see a grouping like this outside of a museum setting."

 

Other items auctioned⁸ Saturday included:

 

-- a clipping of linen⁹ from Lincoln's death bed and stained with Lincoln's blood, for $6,000.

 

-- an 1864 letter signed by Lincoln and authorizing¹⁰ prisoner-of-war swap¹¹ involving Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's son from a Union POW camp, for $27,500.

 

-- A display of photographs and autographs from Lincoln, Booth and Boston Corbett, the soldier who shot and killed Booth -- a set nicknamed "The Martyr¹², The Assassin and The Avenger¹³" -- which sold for $30,000.

 

-- a set of four oil paintings created for a carnival¹⁴ side show displaying the mummified remains¹⁵ of a man claimed to be Booth, for $30,000.

 

-- Booth's military arrest warrant, for $21,250.

 

-- a framed White House Funeral Admittance Card, for $11,875.

 

-- a letter signed by Mary Todd Lincoln on her personal mourning stationery¹⁶, for $10,625.

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