Lock of David Bowie’s Hair Could Fetch Thousands at Auction
Bowie was known for changing up his look – including his hair – for his entire career. (Photo: AP Photo/Dietmar Stiplovsek)
A snippet of blonde hair from The Thin White Duke will soon be auctioned off and is expected to sell for a pretty penny. The strands belong to wigmaker Wendy Farrier, who was commissioned in 1983 by Madame Tussauds to help create a wax figure of David Bowie. A big fan of the singer, Farrier decided to keep a wisp of the hair — but all these years later, she’s ready to cash in, according to The Mirror.
Known for his ever-changing coifs, Bowie once defended his right to let his tresses flow. At 17, before he was famous, the artist was interview by the BBC’s Tonight show and cheekily introduced as “the spokesman for the Prevention of Cruelty to Long-Haired Men.”
(Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo)
Though some experts predict the singer’s locks will command a mere $4,000, others believe they could sell for more, given the icon’s untimely death in January. “Fans are devastated … so we are expecting a lot of interest in this sale,” auctioneer Margaret Barrett of Heritage Auctions told the Mirror.
If the recent sale of locks from John Lennon’s mane is any indication, Barrett is correct. The late Beatle’s hair sold for $35,000 six months ago to a U.K. memorabilia collector at an auction in Texas also conducted by Heritage Auctions. It had been saved by one of Lennon’s hairdressers.
The most expensive lock of celebrity hair ever sold, though, belonged to the King himself, of course. Strands from Elvis Presley’s pompadour fetched a steep $155,000 at a 2002 auction. Other celebrity tresses auctioned off include composer Beethoven’s, which sold for $7,300, and baseball great Mickey Mantle’s, which scored $6,900. Most recently, a lock of Justin Bieber’s hair was auctioned off by Ellen DeGeneres auctioned for $40,668 (the proceeds went to charity).
(Photo: Stephen Randall / Alamy Stock Photo)
Auctioneers have also seen clothing from stars’ wardrobes fetch small fortunes over the years. Michael Jackson’s trademark rhinestone glove sold for $420,000 at auction in 2009. A duplicate of the Givenchy gown worn by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s was bought for $923,187 in 2006 by an anonymous buyer rumored to be Victoria Beckham. And a La Peregrina pearl necklace given to Elizabeth Taylor by Richard Burton sold at a 2011 auction for a staggering $11.8 million.
In 1999, the jewel-encrusted gown that Marilyn Monroe wore while famously singing “Happy Birthday” to then-president John F. Kennedy was sold to a collector for $1,267,500. It seems people will pay dearly to get their hands on anything that belonged to the legendary sex symbol, though. A set of Monroe’s chest X-rays, taken in 1954, was snapped up at a Las Vegas auction for $45,000!
(AP Foto/Ron Frehm)
But that’s not the weirdest celebrity item sold at auction. Other bizarre buys include a urinal autographed by Lady Gaga, which fetched $460,000 on eBay. The auction site also sold a tissue that Scarlett Johansson blew her nose into — as part of a Tonight Show bit — for $5,300, and Britney Spears’ used chewing gum, for $14,000.
Our favorite eBay celeb item to be auctioned off, however, was an actual human being. In 2004, singer James Blunt auctioned off his younger sister, Emily, as part of a gag. A millionaire named Guy Harrison “bought” her for an undisclosed sum — and the pair married three years later!
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