Beatlemania has gone to a whole new level with this strange purchase.
A British collector of Beatles memorabilia has purchased a lock of hair cut from the head of John Lennon back in 1966, for US$35 000 (that’s over AU$48 800) at an auction in Dallas. The strand, cut by a German barber, was 10 cm long. The bidder Paul Fraser apparently paid three times the expected price, as revealed by The Guardian.
Garry Shrum of Heritage Auctions of Dallas explained its significance. “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,” he told the BBC.
He also said it was cut at “a very important time in his career.” It was a month after the release of The Beatles’ seventh album Revolver and before Lennon starred in How I Won The War as Private Gripweed.
Some of the more, let’s say mainstream, collectable items sold at the audition were a photo of John Lennon right before cutting his hair, photo of the band signed by all four members, a sealed copy of the band’s cover of Yesterday And Today and an unused ticket from their first show in Washington DC.
What this superfan is planning to actually do with the lock of hair, is anyone’s guess.