Vintage Beatles wig from 1964 up for auction — here’s how much it could fetch
I wanna hold your hair.
A vintage Beatles mop top wig from 1964 goes under the hammer this weekend as part of Heritage Auctions music memorabilia and posters sale.
“This is the only / Authentic / Beatle Wig and it Fits All Head Sizes” touts the listing of the Fab Four rug, which comes in its original packaging.
The hairy homage — which retailed for $3.99 back in 1964 — includes cutout portraits of each Beatle’s face along the top and could fetch up to $1,000.
“Most of the wigs were taken out of the package and worn by Beatlemaniacs all over,” said Garry Shrum, 73, Heritage Auctions’ director of music memorabilia. “Being able to find one still in the package with the heads in tact and not torn off, is seldom seen.”
He noted that the unidentified consignor was a Fab Four fan who hailed from London.
The “furball in the package” is “not getting the respect it it should because people think it’s goofy,” Shrum added.
The 60-year-old tresses are a reminder of the times and “it was all about the music, and of course with the media then, it was all about the hair and their looks and their antics onstage,” he noted.
Countless artists have cited the Beatles’ Ed Sullivan Show appearances as their inspiration for becoming musicians, including Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Tom Petty and Nancy Wilson.
When the Beatles made their historic Sullivan Show debut — at Broadway’s Studio 50 — on Feb. 9, 1964, they did so before 700 screaming fans and 73 million TV viewers.
The Beatles may have fueled the 1960s British Invasion, but the wigs were manufactured by the Lowell Toy Mfg. Corp. in The Bronx.
The auction takes place Sunday.
