Christmas may be behind us, and in case you didn’t get just what you wanted, stores have given us another week of post-holiday sales. But rather than bludgeoning your way through mall crowds, how about something that used to belong to someone much more famous than you, like a clump of Elvis’ hair, or Cormac McCarthy’s typewriter. eBay is full of items once owned by celebrities, and we’ve compiled the stories of people who paid too much money to obtain them.
1. Jack Nicholson’s Teeth
Let’s get the creepiest one out of the way. In 2001 England’s Auction World TV sold an assortment of Jack Nicholson’s baby teeth and adult molars. The selling price remains a mystery, as does the buyer’s intentions. Apparently Nicholas was furious with the auction, and threatened to make his own bid to win back his chompers.
2. Scarlet Used Johanssen’s Tissue
Scarlet Johansson’s tissue, used to blow her nose on The Tonight Show, sold for $5,300 via eBay, after a total of 83 bids. Not that it makes it any better, but all the proceeds were given to charity.
3. Justin Timberlake’s Half-Eaten French Toast
During his glitsy N’Sync days, Justin Timberlake a breakfast interview with New York’s Z-100, but didn’t finish all of his French toast. Naturally, the DJ put it up the breakfast remains on eBay, through which a fan, looking to decorate her room, paid $3,154. “I’ll probably freeze-dry it, then seal it… then put it on my dresser.”
4. Britney Spears’ Green Freak-Out Umbrella
Remember Britney Spears’ bald phase? Around this time she got pretty fed up with the paparazzi, which drove her to attack an empty car with a green umbrella. Somehow her weapon of choice made it to eBay, with a starting bid of $25,000. The site eventually took the item down, but not before people threw in their bids.
5. Marilyn Monroe’s “Happy Birthday, Mr. President”Dress
One of the less absurd collectible’s people have bid on was Marilyn Monroe’s “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” dress, which sold for $1,267,000 in a 1999 auction.
6. Bob Barker’s The Price Is Right Microphone
Acting without his wife’s approval, radio host Dave Ryan bought Bob Barker’s The Price Is Right microphone through eBay for $20,000. He considered it “a cool opportunity to win.. a one-of-a-kind piece of American pop culture.” We consider it a lot of money.
7. Gary Coleman’s Gap Kids Sweatpants
Gary Coleman needed a little help from Jimmy Kimmel when selling his Gap Kids sweatpants. Coleman put them on eBay, hoping for high bids to pay for his dialysis. They did pretty well, too, as the highest bidder won them for $400,000, only never came forward to claim the prize. Therefore, the sweatpants went to the runner-up, which happened to be Kimmel. He won them for a mere $500, and there has since been speculation that the winning mystery bidder might have been Coleman himself.
8. Michael Jackson’s Burned Hair
Reportedly a dozen strands of Michael Jackson’s burned hair were auctioned off. The strands were collected from the set of the Pepsi commercial in which his head catches fire. We’re still not sure if the King of Pop’s hair was valued as highly as the King’s barber shop shavings.
9. Audrey Hepburn’s Black Givency Cocktail Dress
The winning bid for Audrey Hepburn’s black Givenchy cocktail dress, the very one she wore in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, was for $923,187. It sold in 2006 to perhaps the greatest Hepburn fanatic ever.
10. Judy Garland’s Ruby Slippers From The Wizard Of Oz
Though they didn’t have that same musical kick as their days in Oz, Judy Garland’s ruby slippers sold to a private collector in 2000 for an ominous price of $666,000.
11. Suge Knight’s Underwear
When Death Row Records bit the dust in 2006, a liquidation sale left a lot of interesting trinkets up for grabs, like some MTV Moon Men, an electric chair, a Source Award won by Snoop Dogg and former CEO Suge Knight’s unmentionables. Someone skipped over the decorations and went right for the big man’s underwear, winning them for just $1.
12. John Lenon’s “Imagine” Piano
John Lennon’s Steinway piano, the very one on which he composed “Imagine,” is at the same time the most expensive and priceless item on this list. Singer George Michael forked over an unimaginable $2 million to have it for himself.