Part of collection of rare Napoleonic memorabilia that had not been seen in public for 200 years, held by descendants of Denzil Ibbetson, the chief commissary officer on the island of St Helena during Napoleon's incarceration and death, was auctioned.
The lock of hair was purchased over the phone by a private collector in London, who did not wish to be identified.
Art+Object managing director Hamish Coney had said previously he expected the hair to bring between $150,000 and $300,000.
As well as the hair, the 40 items in the collection at the Art+Object auction house included various images of Napoleon and Ibbetson's personal diary.
Ibbetson was also a talented artist and many drawings and paintings of Napoleon and St Helena, the island to which he was exiled, were part of the archive,A lithograph and watercolour image of Napoleon on his deathbed went for $21,000, and Ibbetson's diary fetched $9500.
The historical collection was probably the most important to have been found in Australia or New Zealand.
Mr Coney said he had spent the past four months researching the objects and preparing the auction.
"I can't think of anything that's comparable," he said.
There had been no registered institutional interest in the auction, but plenty from Napoleonic historians and collectors, including bidders from Lithuania, London, the United States and France.
A successful bidder, Rick Norris, picked up two hand-coloured lithographs of Napoleon and his officers for $2400 and also two drawings of yachts by Ibbetson's son, Frederick.
