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Strands of Kurt Cobain’s hair fetch $14,145 at auction

Strands of Kurt Cobain’s hair have sold for $14,145 (£10,005) at auction.

The late Nirvana legend’s blonde tresses went under the hammer as part of the Amazing Music Auction by Iconic Auctions.

The hair had been kept since the Grunge band’s tour in 1989 in support of their seminal LP ‘Bleach’.

Kurt’s pal Tessa Osbourne and a fan had given the ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ hitmaker a haircut in Birmingham, England, and she then gave a single lock to Seattle artist Nicole DePolo following the death of the musician by suicide in 1994.

The listing read: “This one-of-a-kind artifact is entirely fresh-to-market, and accompanied by an impeccable lineage of provenance including images of Kurt posing with the woman who cut this hair, scissors in hand, and a fantastic shot of the hair actually being cut!

“She provided the original bag with handwritten provenance note, ’29/10/89: Tess cut Kurt’s hair in Birmingham, England, 27 Holy Rd., Handsworth, Birmingham B202BU’ which is retained with the original complete lock.”

The lowest bid for the lot was set at $2,500 (£1,800).

Last year, Kurt’s acoustic guitar from Nirvana’s iconic 1993 ‘MTV Unplugged in New York’ performance sold for a record-breaking $6 million at auction.

The 1959 Martin D-18E – which was often out of tune – was expected to fetch between $1million and $2 million at the online ‘Music Icons’ sale hosted by Julien’s Auctions, but it ended up breaking the record for the most expensive guitar.

The lot came with the guitar case the ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ group’s late frontman Kurt used, which has a poster of Poison Idea’s album ‘Feel the Darkness’ on it, whilst inside is a bunch of guitar strings, picks and a “stash” bag.

A cardigan owned by Kurt was also sold at auction in 2019 for $334,000.

The music icon wore the garment during the band’s ‘Unplugged’ performance.

The item went under the hammer in New York and is said to be the most expensive sweater ever sold at auction.

According to Darren Julien, the president of Julien’s Auction, the cigarette-burned cardigan is “the holy grail of any article of clothing that he ever wore”.

What’s more, Kurt’s custom-made Fender Mustang guitar was sold at the auction for $340,000, having spent several years on display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.