Beatles’ hair fetches $10k at auction

File under ‘not what we’d do with $10k’: Strands of hair belonging to The Beatles have been sold on Catawiki, an eBay-like auction website for “special objects”, for more than US$10,000.

The hair in question dates from 25 March 1964, when the Fab Four had their moptops trimmed during the filming of A Hard Day’s Night. The cuttings were swept up by John O’Gorman, head of make-up for the film, who later gave the hair to friends for a wedding anniversary present.

“Nowadays, collecting the hair of famous people is a booming industry,” explains Catawiki’s resident Beatles expert, Denny Hoekstra. “In general, the hair of celebrities will only become more valuable over time, which makes these locks of hair a good investment.”

“Collecting the hair of famous people is a booming industry”

The hair was offered for sale as four individual auctions: one for each Beatle. “Paul McCartney’s hair was the most sought after, selling for $2,996,” Hoekstra continues. “Each lot contained four to five strands, which means McCartney’s hair sold for approximately $600 per strand.

“George Harrison’s and Ringo Starr’s lots were both sold to a bidder from France for $2,901 and $2,885, respectively. The hair belonging to John Lennon yielded only $1,385, which surprised us.”

Elvis Presley holds the distinction of having the world’s most expensive barnet, with a collector previously having paid $115,000 for a piece of the King. Marxist militant-turned-ironic fashion icon Che Guevara is second ($119,500); Lennon, in a different auction, third ($48,000); Justin Bieber fourth ($40,668); and Marilyn Monroe fifth ($40,000).

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