[History & Culture] Cody, William F., "Buffalo Bill". (1846 - 1917). Signed Photograph and Lock of Hair. A 3-inch lock of hair, approximately 30 strands from the head of the celebrated frontiersman and entertainer, together with a Stacy cabinet card photograph of Cody in an embroidered rawhide jacket, signed and inscribed: "Mrs. Bell Hayes...WF Cody." The hair in fine condition, card with losses and chips around the edges and to lower corners, most faults matted out of sight under UV-plexiglass in a fine period frame.


Accompanied by a notarized letter of provenance from Cody’s direct descendant, William Kevin Cody, who is Buffalo Bill’s great-great grandson, demonstrating his lineage with a family tree diagram. In part: “This blonde hair belonged to Colonel William Frederick Cody…that was passed on down to me directly through my Cody Family lineage, as I am a Direct Descendant of Buffalo Bill…A couple decades ago my father, Kit Carson Cody, spoke of having some of Buffalo Bills hair along with his military buttons…I came across my father’s collection of Cody Family Archives…Among the hoard of family mementos was a small wooden box containing Buffalo Bills’ military buttons and lock of his hair just as described.”


A lock of the famously flowing hair of the Wild-West impresario and myth-maker. More than any other of his physical characteristics, Buffalo Bill's long hair and goatee are emblematic of the man himself, as much in his time as in ours; indeed, the Plains Indians with whom Cody dealt as a young scout dubbed him Pahaska, a Lakota word meaning "long hair." By the age of fifteen Cody had already been a horse wrangler, pony express rider, and unsuccessful prospector. He became a scout for the Union army and after the war took a job for a company that supplied meat for railroad construction crews, killing 4280 buffalo during 1867–1868. Dubbed “Buffalo Bill” by writer Ned Buntline, Cody organized his famous Wild West Show in 1883 and toured with it with great success for many year. An extremely rare and unique piece of Western history enhanced by its excellent familial provenance.