I want to hold your hair.
A vintage Beatles mop wig from 1964 going under the hammer this weekend as part of Heritage Auctions sale of music memorabilia and posters.
“This is the only / genuine / Beatle wig and it fits all head sizes” raves the listing of the Fab Four rug, which comes in its original packaging.
The furry tribute — which sold for $3.99 back in 1964 — features cut-out portraits of each Beatles’ face at the top and can fetch up to $1,000.
“Most of the wigs were taken out of the packaging and worn by Beatlemaniacs everywhere,” said Garry Shrum, 73, Heritage Auctions’ director of music memorabilia. “To be able to find one left in the pack with the heads in tact and not torn off, is rarely seen.”
He noted that the unidentified sender was a Fab Four fan who came from London.
The “furball in the package” is “not getting the respect it should because people think it’s silly,” Shrum added.
The 60-year-old curls are a reminder of the time and “it was about the music, and of course with the media then, it was about the hair and their looks and their antics on stage,” he noted.
Countless artists have cited The Beatles’ appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show as their inspiration to become musicians, including Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Tom Petty and Nancy Wilson.
When the Beatles made their historic Sullivan Show debut—in Broadway’s Studio 50—on February 9, 1964, they did so in front of 700 screaming fans and 73 million television viewers.
The Beatles may have fueled the British Invasion of the 1960s, but the wigs were made by Lowell Toy Mfg. corp. in The Bronx.
The auction takes place on Sunday.