Image: Artnet | Heritage Auctions
A fifty-year-old lock of John Lennon’s hair that is being called “significant” is going up for auction in Dallas by Heritage Auctions. The hair was freed from Lennon’s head in 1966 on the set of How I Won the War, a Richard Lester film in which Lennon played Musketeer Gripweed. The authentic, four-inch lock of hair is up for online bidding in advance of the Entertainment and Music Memorabilia Auction on February 20th.
The hair comes from the private collection of Klaus Baruck, the stylist who maintained Lennon’s hair during the movie’s filming. These shorn tresses come with a newspaper clipping and a photo of Baruck holding the hair. Because without a form of authentication, you could just be buying a lock of a stranger’s hair—and you don’t want to live in that reality.
So far, the lock of Lennon’s hair has a high bid of $12,000, a number that might rise before the auction ends in a few days.
Other items in the auction include photos of Baruck giving Lennon the haircut and a call sheet from that particular day of shooting How I Won the War. Another call sheet bearing both men’s signatures will also be up for auction. An LP copy of Please Please Me with all four Beatles’ signatures, an autographed photo of the band performing in Liverpool in December 1963, and a copy of Yesterday and Today will also be up for grabs.
Other offerings include a “Batman” Fillmore Auditorium Poster BG-2 for Big Brother and the Holding Company and Quicksilver Messenger Service, one of the rarest photos known to exist, and which is expected to fetch at least $20,000. There will also be a signed snapshot of Elvis Presley from 1955, and 140 more signed autographs.
The signed photo of all four Beatles is easily the most expensive item on the auction menu, expected to earn about $40,000.