Need a creepy yet insanely effective get-rich-quick scheme? One no-fail option is to cut the hair of a famous person and then save some scraps to auction off after they’ve died.
Case in point, some of John Lennon’s legendary locks just sold for a cool $35,000 at Heritage Auctions in Dallas, TX.
The hair was provided by a German hairdresser who held onto a knot of Lennon’s hair after giving him a trim prior to filming the 1967 black comedy How I Won the War. Lennon played Private Gripweed in the cult classic, which trailed woefully incompetent British troops during World War II. The hair’s new owner is UK collector Paul Fraser.
“This is the largest lock of John Lennon’s hair ever offered at auction and this world record price is a lasting testament to the world’s more than 50-year love affair and fascination with Lennon and the Beatles,” Garry Shrum, director of music memorabilia at Heritage, told the BBC.
Some more covetable Beatles memorabilia was also up for grabs. A band portrait from 1963 signed by all four members auctioned for $42,500, and a ticket for the Beatles’ first US concert in Washington D.C. in 1964 sold for $30,000. The top of the lot was an ultra-rare copy of the band’s US LP Yesterday and Today, which went for $125,000.
The BBC, however, neglected to update us on the whereabouts of that crafty German hairdresser.