The strangest investment you've never heard of starred in Heritage Auction Galleries' Ultimate Elvis auction, over the weekend (August 14): a jar full of The King's hair.
Apparently, Elvis's barber Homer M Gilleland collected the star's jet-black dyed hair, which was famously fashioned into a quiff, and later gifted it to a friend.
In the end the lot realised $16,680, with Heritage's sale netting $623,500 overall.
Celebrity hair has proven itself a consistently great investment on the markets. For example, a clump of the hair of Ernesto Che Guevara sold for $100,000 in October 2007.
 Elvis's gold-and-diamond cameo ring, sold for $32,500 |
And, in an auction in November 2009, a single strand of Elvis's hair sold for $1,645. Needless to say, the lucky buyer has a potentially great appreciable investment on their hands.
Today (August 16) happens to be the anniversary of the King's death, who died at his Graceland mansion in 1977, aged just 42.
Other major highlights in the sale included a gold-and-diamond cameo ring given by Elvis himself to the grandmother of the consignor, Blair Hill.
Expected to sell close to its $10,000 minimum estimate, the ring shot all the way up to $32,500 to cheers in the saleroom.
The winning bid went to Michael Werner of Las Vegas.
Meanwhile, a three-page real estate sales contract for The King's famous Graceland home - signed by "Elvis Aron Presley" alongside the signatures of his parents - brought $39,000.
Interestingly the property wasn't given its "Graceland" moniker by Elvis, but was actually named after Grace, the daughter of its previous owner, F E Toof.
And, unbelievably, one of the sale's most fascinating and personal Elvis memorabilia items, a White Knabe Grand Piano and Bench, failed to find a buyer.
The piano was estimated at $1m, but bidding failed to match the $500,000 minimum price. However, given its exceptional provenance - which you can read more about here - the piano will undoubtedly find a new buyer eventually.
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