Here's something you might be interested in.
There have been times I'm writing about a party, that someone comes over and says "You work for the Reader? Oh, I don't read it. I just look at the ads. And read 'News of the Weird'."
In our last issue, there was a story about people that collected strands of hair from famous people.
One auction house makes $100,000 a year selling hair. They got $119,500 for Che Guevara's last October. And, that seems so odd to me.
I can see a high price going for his baret, or rifle, but hair? What can you do with it? Unlike an autographed photo, it won't look nice when it's framed and hanging on the wall.
I remember when John Lennon's hair sold for close to $50,000. But then, Lennon items always bring in the big bucks. One of his white pianos was bought by George Michaels for a million.
And, there's the story about the "last" autograph Lennon ever signed. It the Double Fantasy album for the guy that shot him.
Somebody found it, turned it over to police. They dusted for finger prints, wrote an evidence number on it, and eventually gave it back to the guy that found it. He supposedly sold it for a few hundred thousand. But every disputes that story, so who knows. Maybe I'll ask our resident music expert, Jay Sanford.
In the "Weird" story, they mention a guy that owns strands of Lincoln, Washington, Napoleon, and Beethoven hair. He estimated that when Britney Spears freaked out and shaved her head last year, it would only bring in $3,500.
I'm guessing he's wrong. I was at the concert she did downtown here right after that. And, people were scalping tickets for her three song lip synched performance, for close to a thousand. I'd have to say her hair would bring in more. Of course, you might want to wash it after purchasing. It's probably not the cleanest.
In one catalog I get, I see strands of Elvis hair attached to a collectors card, for $25. That seems to be a bargain. Maybe all those haircuts he got in the Army, means there's more of it on the "market".
But I think of a story my racquetball partner told me about his aunt. Her friend was a hair stylist. She had cut Presley's hair, and as she was sweeping the floor, decided to save it.
A few months later, she was offered hundreds of dollars for it. And she sold it.
When another person inquired about buying the hair, she got some off the floor. But it belonged to a customer with a similar hair color and style to the Kings. She figured he wouldn't know. And, he didn't.
She was selling black hair for a year.
And I wonder now, if people buying these strands of "Elvis" hair, are really getting someone elses.
I also wonder....how it is that guy was never to sell those bed sheets from the Beatles hotel room. He's often listed in stories of the biggest business flops.
But with people buying hair they aren't even sure belonged to the famous person...it seems a sheet the Beatles slept in, with province from the hotel, would be worth more.
But at $25 a square, he didn't sell many. And he still has a warehouse full of them.
There have been times I'm writing about a party, that someone comes over and says "You work for the Reader? Oh, I don't read it. I just look at the ads. And read 'News of the Weird'."
In our last issue, there was a story about people that collected strands of hair from famous people.
One auction house makes $100,000 a year selling hair. They got $119,500 for Che Guevara's last October. And, that seems so odd to me.
I can see a high price going for his baret, or rifle, but hair? What can you do with it? Unlike an autographed photo, it won't look nice when it's framed and hanging on the wall.
I remember when John Lennon's hair sold for close to $50,000. But then, Lennon items always bring in the big bucks. One of his white pianos was bought by George Michaels for a million.
And, there's the story about the "last" autograph Lennon ever signed. It the Double Fantasy album for the guy that shot him.
Somebody found it, turned it over to police. They dusted for finger prints, wrote an evidence number on it, and eventually gave it back to the guy that found it. He supposedly sold it for a few hundred thousand. But every disputes that story, so who knows. Maybe I'll ask our resident music expert, Jay Sanford.
In the "Weird" story, they mention a guy that owns strands of Lincoln, Washington, Napoleon, and Beethoven hair. He estimated that when Britney Spears freaked out and shaved her head last year, it would only bring in $3,500.
I'm guessing he's wrong. I was at the concert she did downtown here right after that. And, people were scalping tickets for her three song lip synched performance, for close to a thousand. I'd have to say her hair would bring in more. Of course, you might want to wash it after purchasing. It's probably not the cleanest.
In one catalog I get, I see strands of Elvis hair attached to a collectors card, for $25. That seems to be a bargain. Maybe all those haircuts he got in the Army, means there's more of it on the "market".
But I think of a story my racquetball partner told me about his aunt. Her friend was a hair stylist. She had cut Presley's hair, and as she was sweeping the floor, decided to save it.
A few months later, she was offered hundreds of dollars for it. And she sold it.
When another person inquired about buying the hair, she got some off the floor. But it belonged to a customer with a similar hair color and style to the Kings. She figured he wouldn't know. And, he didn't.
She was selling black hair for a year.
And I wonder now, if people buying these strands of "Elvis" hair, are really getting someone elses.
I also wonder....how it is that guy was never to sell those bed sheets from the Beatles hotel room. He's often listed in stories of the biggest business flops.
But with people buying hair they aren't even sure belonged to the famous person...it seems a sheet the Beatles slept in, with province from the hotel, would be worth more.
But at $25 a square, he didn't sell many. And he still has a warehouse full of them.