The clump of hair belonging to the monarch – which was clipped from the head of the then-young prince in the early 1960s by a royal hairdresser – is selling for an extravagant four-figure sum
A lock of King Charles’ hair is on sale for a hefty £8,000 sum. The clump of hair belonging to the was clipped from his head when he was a young prince in the early 1960s by royal hairdresser George Crisp.
The hair, which is being sold by Paul Fraser Collectibles, is described on the company’s website as “a unique artefact”, adding that “there is no more intimate piece of King Charles III memorabilia in existence”. The unique item is the first of its kind to go up for sale, and is listed on the website as “impossible to recreate”.
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Paul Fraser, the founder of Paul Fraser Collectibles, told the Mirror : “We acquired it at auction in 2017. We know of no other genuine lock of Charles’ hair – or even single strands – that have ever been offered for sale at auction before.” The “world’s largest seller of historical or celebrity hair” explained that they have sold rare and unusual items like this before.
Mr Fraser said: “Our most grisly item was without doubt the beard hair of another King Charles I, who was sporting on the day of his execution in 1649. The hair was removed following the body’s exhumation in 1813. Charles was famed for his goatee – almost all pictures of him show him with one. It sold for £15,000.”
When asked who would be likely to purchase such a strange artefact, the auctioneer said: “Generally, two types of people purchase our hair: Fans, people who love a particular star, such as Daniel Radcliffe, Paul McCartney, Justin Bieber, and want to feel that personal connection to them.
“[Or] people fascinated by history – men and women who are amazed when they discover they can own a piece of a world-changing historical figure – someone they’ve previously only read about in books. Whether that’s Edward IV from the Wars of the Roses, George Washington, Napoleon, Charles Dickens, or Neil Armstrong.”
The Charles collection, which features the lock of hair, also includes a personally written Christmas card to Mr Crisp, likely from the early to mid-1960s. The signature is described as “clear and handsome” and “so different from his adult signature”.
The hairdresser’s scissors and comb are also on sale, which are not confirmed to have been used to cut Charles’s hair, but Paul Fraser Collectibles claim they were “almost certainly used”.
Paul Fraser Collectibles wrote online: “The scissors feature a French maker’s mark; the brown plastic comb bears the maker’s mark of Kent of London (model 13T). Kent holds the Royal Warrant for hairbrushes in the UK.” The collection of items can be purchased for £7,995 from Paul Fraser Collectibles’ online store.
The late Mr Crisp first trimmed the hair and beard of Charles’s grandfather, George VI. He was then kept as a trusted member of the royal staff by Queen Elizabeth II after her father’s death in 1952.
During the 1960s, he regularly made the short walk from Trumper’s in Mayfair, the noted barbershop where he worked, to Buckingham Palace to cut the young prince’s dark locks.
