“Dr. Nelden advertised for a man willing to sell an ear for $5,000.”

Selling your finger so that your kid can have music lessons is one thing, but a deal between a German restaurateur and a Western millionaire to transplant an ear from the former to the latter is one of the wilder antique newspaper pieces I’ve ever read. The story from the November 19, 1903 New York Times:

“Philadelphia–Dr. Andrew L. Nelden of New York to-day performed the operation of grafting an ear upon the head of a Western millionaire, who the surgeon says he is under bond not to reveal. The operation was to have been performed in New York, but District Attorney Jerome is said to have interfered.

Dr. Nelden advertised for a man willing to sell an ear for $5,000, and from more than 100 applicants he selected a young German, who at one time conducted a restaurant in New York.

Dr. Nelden said to-day:

‘The operation has been performed and promises to be successful. It took place at a private hospital here, where I was assisted by a Philadelphia physician and one from New York. I think they will be willing to have their names known later.

‘The two men were placed in opposite directions upon an elongated bed. One-half of a volunteer’s ear –the upper half–was cut off, together with about four inches of the skin behind the ear.

‘This was twisted around and fitted to a freshly prepared wound upon my patient’s head. The half ear was held in place by bandages, and the two men were bound so that they could not move their heads. They must retain this position for at least twelve days to allow the circulation to come through the flap of skin that still remains as part of the volunteer’s scalp.

‘If this half ear starts to unite properly the lower half of the ear will be grafted in the same manner.'”