Published: 13 June, 2013
EXCLUSIVE by RICHARD OSLEY

SWOONING fans of Sir Mick Jagger, in their dizziest moments at least, may have dreamed of running their fingers through the singer’s flowing hair.

Now, if they have a couple of grand to spare, they may finally have the chance. Sort of.

In one of the most bizarre lots to appear at auction in recent years, a 50-year-old lock of the Rolling Stones frontman’s hair is due to go under the hammer at the world famous auction house Bonhams next month.

It was snipped from his mane in the early 1960s and has been kept by relatives of one of his first girlfriends, Chrissie Shrimpton, a Covent Garden secretary he famously dated while a student at the London School of Economics.

Their romance marked a period when Jagger lived with fellow Stone Keith Richards in Mapesbury Road, Kilburn, and then Holly Hill, Hampstead. Shrimpton, sister of model Jean Shrimpton, lived with the two rockers. 

The lovers got engaged and moved into a mansion block in Regent’s Park before Sir Mick – just plain old Mick back then – backed away and they split up without reaching the altar.

The guide price for the lock of hair is between £1,500 and £2,000. It is among a large collection of music and movie memorabilia, amassed from different sources, being sold by the famous auction house in Knightsbridge. 

The brown hair comes in “a small paper envelope” with a statement of provenance to reassure doubters.

Bonhams’ catalogue guide says: “The statement from Chrissie Shrimpton confirms that, unbeknown to her at the time, this lock was saved by her grandmother when Mick and Chrissie were staying at her parents’ farm. Apparently, on her grandmother’s death, the hair passed to Chrissie's aunt. When she died, the hair was returned to Chrissie by a cousin taking care of personal effects.”

Money raised from the sale of the hair will go to Changing Faces, a charity which supports people with disfigurements. Also among the lots is an “automated” tweeting birdcage which Jagger gave to Shrimpton on her 21st birthday. The relationship with Shrimpton, now 67, ran from 1963 to 1966. The auction in Knightsbridge is on July 3.