The demand for all things Michael Jackson may soon fizzle out.
So says the man who is now trying to sell the King of Pop’s burnt hair.
Richard Davie, an authenticity expert at England’s International Autograph Auctions (www.autographauctions.co.uk) is offering up what he says are slightly fried strands of Jackson’s hair, which were singed during a 1984 Pepsi commercial accident.
They will be sold in London, England, on Saturday.
Ralph Cohen, a producer on the doomed pop spot, says he carefully preserved the bits of the singer’s once-burning mane.
It was Cohen who tossed his jacket over Jackson’s smoldering head, after pyrotechnics were set off too early during filming before thousands of fans at Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium.
The Jan. 27, 1984 incident is seen as a pivotal low in the life of the legendary singer. Many believe it also marked the start of his dependency on painkillers and prescription medication. His death, on June 25, has been linked to a variety of drugs.
After the fire extinguishers were emptied on the Pepsi shoot, and Jackson was led away — his head scarred — Cohen says he gathered up the fallen locks. In all, there are a dozen strands.
As well as the hair, the high bidder will get a photo of Jackson and a diary of Cohen’s memory of the day.
Davie tells Sun Media he has never auctioned off such an unusual bit of pop celebrity, even though, earlier this year, he sold a specially constructed bra owned by Marilyn Monroe. The uplifting underwear included a double cup frame that gave the sex goddess added public exposure.
Davie expects Jackson’s singed hair to bring in around $1,600 CN, double what it would have earned before the singer’s death.
But there’s an expiry date on the need for people to have a strand of pop history, he warns.
“I think in Michael Jackson’s case, (collectibles) will plateau then maybe decline,” he explains, recalling selling Princess Diana signed Christmas cards for $8,000, just after she died in a car crash in 1997.
Today, those same cards can be had for a fifth of that price.
If the sale of Jackson’s hair seems another weird development, for once, he’s following a trend. Tufts from the heads of writer Charles Dickens and British naval hero, Lord Nelson, are also being sold off at the same auction.
