We’ve heard of fans buying celebrity-owned hand-downs for massive sums. However, in what could be a first, a jar full of hair belonging to Elvis Presley has recently been auctioned for a whopping $72,500! Yes, that’s right!
The tiny blob of hair was offered with a certificate of authenticity and was mounted in a frame alongside a photograph of the King of Rock and Roll. It was procured in 2002 by Thomas B Morgan Jnr, a one-time employee at the sheriff’s office of Shelby County and Memphis, Tennessee, who apparently knew Elvis.
The auctioned strand was apparently clipped from Elvis’s head by his personal barber of more than 20 years, Homer Gill Gilleland, who used to dye the singer’s sandy-blonde hair black and keep the cuttings in a plastic bag. Commenting on it, Kruse GWS auction in a statement said, “This collection of hair was saved from haircuts given to Elvis Presley by his personal barber Homer Gilleland over the years and represents the largest and most well-documented collection of Elvis’ hair in the world.”
The auctioneer further added, “This isn’t a lock of hair that you typically find, but is a massive, baseball-sized specimen which has not been offered for sale in nearly 20 years.” The blob was expected to sell for merely $344 but went on to fetch thousands above the estimated price.
In addition to the jar of hair, the sale included Presley’s jumpsuit which he wore for his performance at Madison Square Garden in 1972 which sold for a record $1,012,500, a racing helmet from the film “Viva Las Vegas” which sold for $23,750, his “Frankie & Johnny” tuxedo tailcoat which sold for $75,000, his personal and stage-worn boots which sold for $28,750, sheet music from his 1968 Comeback Special auctioned at $15,000, and his custom eagle belt which went for $25,000.
[Via: CNN]
