Celebrity Hair Auctions are a lucrative niche market that has seen various celebrity (present and past) hair strands sell on auction for obnoxious amounts of money. The world’s highest celebrity hair that was sold at auction belonged to Elvis Presley and was purchased for approximately $115000, (R1 955 000) in 2002.
According to Paul Fraser, a majority of individuals who participate in celebrity hair auctions are either celebrity fans who participate in these auctions to add to their collector’s items or they are individuals who purchase the celebrity hairs to later sell these strands of hair for a profit.
Celebrity hair is often sourced from wig makers who are often required to cut celebrity hair samples when creating custom-made wigs for the character roles celebrities are required to play for specific movies. From then, these said strands of hair are preserved and traded via private sale or via auction where the strands of hair are sold to the highest bidder.
A big motivation behind most of the celebrity hair purchases is owning a physical aspect of the said celebrity. Most celebrity collectors who often participate in auctions where various celebrity memorabilia (such as socks, shoes and clothes) are auctioned find that owning genetic artefacts of celebrities, such as hair or in some instances a tooth not only preserves the actual DNA of the said celebrity but ensures that the said celebrities life/legacy lives longer, through their respective strand of hair.
Of the many celebrities whose hair has been sold at auction, Kurt Cobain, Marilyn Monroes and Justin Bieber are some of the few celebrities whose hairs have been sold at auction. It’s also interesting to note that hair auctions are not only limited to celebrities. In 2007, the famous Cuban revolutionist, Che Guevara’s strand of hair was sold at auction for $100 000 (approximately R1 700 000).
Would you participate in a prominent figures hair auction? And if so, which prominent figure’s hair would you bid on? Let us know in the poll here