"How I Won the War" 1967

This is a lock of John Lennon's hair trimmed in September 1966 in preparation for filming How I Won the War, along with a photocopy of Lennon's signed call sheet and certificate of authenticity from Heritage Auctions.

The lock marks the moment the Beatles left Beatlemania behind, and turned their minds to the studio, and the creation of Sgt Pepper.

Chain of Custody

The hair can be dated to a specific time and location and had been in the collection of the original owner for nearly 50 years. 

It was originally obtained directly from John Lennon's hairdresser Klaus Baruck, who trimmed Lennon's hair in Hamburg, just before Lennon's role as Gripweed in Richard Lester’s (the same director who had made The Beatles’ films A Hard Day’s Night and Help!) dark comedy about a fictional British army troop and their misadventures in World War II.

Included is a photocopy of the original one-page 8.5 x 11 inch mimeographed page titled "Petersham Films Limited/ Call Sheet No.13" which is dated September 6, 1966, which bears an interesting blue ink signature that reads: "John Lennon/ oh yes".

Filming happened just after The Beatles stopped touring

The haircut took place just a month after the release of the legendary Revolver album and just 8 days after the band's last live concert at Candlestick Park on 29 August 1966. So the movie sits right at the hinge between “touring Beatle John” and “studio/psychedelic John”.

The famous round glasses came from this film

Lennon wore round, wire-rimmed “granny” glasses as Gripweed. That look became one of his defining visual trademarks. The film helped fix that image of Lennon in the public imagination.

He wrote much of “Strawberry Fields Forever” while filming

This is the big one. Lennon wrote much of Strawberry Fields Forever during the downtime in Spain. Film sets involve a lot of waiting, and Lennon used that time to work on the song. This was not just another pop song; it marks the start of Lennon’s more introspective phase and experimental Beatles period.

The most famous haircut in rock and roll history

At the height of his fame, Elvis Presley was drafted into the US Army. The reaction from his young female fans was immediate and anguished.

What followed, on 25th March 1958 at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, became one of the most documented moments in popular culture: the removal of Elvis's famous quiff by army barber James "Pete" Peterson, with the world's press in attendance.

The press presence was no accident. Elvis's manager, Colonel Tom Parker, had arranged it.

The Gary Pepper collection

Gary Pepper was President of The Elvis Tankers Fan Club, the officially recognised fan organisation established in 1958, which was named after Elvis Presley’s US Army tank corps.

Elvis and Gary shared a deep friendship. Gary organised a massive crowd to welcome Elvis home from the Army at the Memphis train station in March 1960, and Elvis frequently invited Gary to movie sets and his Graceland estate.

The hair from the army cut was passed to Gary. He had built a significant personal collection of effects gifted directly to him by Elvis, and the hair was among the most singular items in it.

He was asked to distribute strands to Elvis fan club members around the world. He did so, though sparingly, and never came close to exhausting his supply.

The reasons are practical rather than mysterious:

• Demand was simply too great. The fan club grew to more than 3,000 members, and by 1963 Pepper closed it entirely because printing and postage costs had become unmanageable
• The hair carried personal significance. Pepper appears to have chosen to preserve a portion as memorabilia rather than divide the collection entirely
• Administration was a genuine constraint. Pepper had cerebral palsy, managed extensive fan club correspondence and maintained a major collection - mailing out every strand would have represented a considerable burden

This lock of Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson's hair is housed in an antique carved agate box dating to circa 1800-1810.

The circular box is decorated with a gold band and measures 4.5cm (1.75 inches) in diameter. A fragmentary enamel plaque on the lid reads "N....05."

The hair closely conforms to other known examples of Nelson's hair on record. Maritime history experts have noted its strong resemblance to a lock contained in a pendant that sold for £44,000 at auction in January 2011.

That pendant also contained hair thought to have belonged to Lady Emma Hamilton, who received Nelson's hair among other personal effects following his death at Trafalgar.

How it passed into circulation

Nelson and Hamilton's daughter, Horatia, gifted several locks and strands to close friends, family members, senior dignitaries and crew members of HMS Victory. This piece is consistent with that established pattern of distribution.

Nelson and Emma Hamilton: Georgian Britain's most scandalous love affair

The relationship between Horatio Nelson and Emma Hamilton was one of the most talked-about affairs of the Georgian era, conducted openly, pursued without apology and ultimately marked by tragedy on both sides.

How they met

Nelson first encountered Emma while she was married to Sir William Hamilton, the British ambassador to Naples. Their relationship deepened significantly after Nelson's victory at the Battle of the Nile in 1798, when Naples received him as a conquering hero. Emma was at the centre of that reception. By the late 1790s they were lovers.

How they met

Nelson first encountered Emma while she was married to Sir William Hamilton, the British ambassador to Naples. Their relationship deepened significantly after Nelson's victory at the Battle of the Nile in 1798, when Naples received him as a conquering hero. Emma was at the centre of that reception. By the late 1790s they were lovers.

A triangular household

Both were attached elsewhere. Emma was Lady Hamilton, wife of Sir William. Nelson was married to Frances, known as Fanny. Neither relationship survived the affair intact. What emerged in its place was an arrangement that raised eyebrows across polite society: Nelson, Emma and Sir William living together for extended periods, with Sir William appearing to tolerate, or at least accept, what was happening under his roof.

Horatia

In 1801, Emma gave birth to a daughter, Horatia. Nelson was her father, though her parentage was publicly obscured at first. Nelson's attachment to Horatia was absolute, and she remained central to his concerns until the end of his life.

Trafalgar and its aftermath

When Nelson was killed at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, his dying requests included a plea that the British state care for Emma and Horatia. The state honoured Nelson with a state funeral and a place in national mythology. Emma received neither support nor recognition. She accumulated debt, was largely abandoned by the establishment Nelson had served, and died in poverty in Calais in 1815.

The haircut that made global news

In 2008, a record executive came across videos of a teenager performing self-penned songs on YouTube. Two years later, Justin Bieber's debut record, My World 2.0, was released and he was on his way to becoming one of the most recognisable pop artists of his generation.

The Ellen DeGeneres connection

Ellen DeGeneres had publicly tweeted that all she wanted for her birthday was a lock of Justin Bieber's hair. In February 2011, Bieber appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show shortly after cutting his famous swooping hairstyle, a look that had become as much a part of his public identity as the music itself. On the show, he joked that he had been inspired by Ellen's own hairstyle, then presented her with a lock of his freshly cut hair in a signed display box as a belated birthday gift.

The Auction

DeGeneres chose to auction the hair on eBay in aid of The Gentle Barn, an animal rescue organisation. The lot became a news story in its own right. It sold for $40,668, purchased by the Golden Palace Casino, and the hair now forms part of their travelling museum.

How Paul Fraser Collectibles acquired this piece

Bieber donated the remaining hair to his chosen charity, Pencils of Promise. They contacted Paul Fraser Collectibles directly, and we acquired the hair in exchange for a substantial charitable donation.

The hair is presented in a plastic container initialled by Justin Bieber. The provenance is documented, the chain of ownership is clear, and the cultural context is specific to a single, well-recorded public event.

Signed hear-shaped container with a rare lock from a genuine rock-star

The hair

A hairdresser collected this lock after giving Cobain a trim in the early 1990s. She later gifted it to her niece, a Nirvana fan, as an eighteenth birthday present.

The container

The niece chose to house the hair in a heart-shaped porcelain jar she had previously acquired from a fellow fan. The choice was deliberate: Heart-Shaped Box is the title of one of Cobain's best-known songs.

The signature

The lid carries Cobain's autograph, written in pen during Nirvana's 1993 "In Utero" tour. He signed it for a female fan who followed the band from concert to concert, and he signed it as he often did: "Kurdt."

The spelling has its own history. In a 1988 magazine interview, Cobain's name was printed with a typo "Kurdt". Rather than correcting it, he embraced the error, using it regularly on letters, drawings and autographs. It also appears in the liner notes for both Bleach and Nevermind.

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