THE HAIR of the Rolling Stones sent to a Scots fan, film costumes worn by Sean Connery and a signed Eddie Van Halen electric guitar are among the bizarre and sought-after memorabilia from the worlds of film and music to be sold at an auction in London.
The Film, Rock & Pop sale being held by Bonhams on tomorrow (Wednesday) features property from the estate of Dame Diana Rigg, who died last September, including the school reports of Ms Rigg - in which a teacher advised her to "give up" her dream of becoming an actress - are to go under the hammer, along with her Tony award nomination, stills photos of the actress and her passport.
Ms Rigg, famous for roles including Emma Peel in TV series The Avengers and Olenna Tyrell in Game of Thrones, died at the age of 82 in September.
Her daughter, actress Rachael Stirling, said she died of cancer, after being diagnosed in March.
She also played the only woman who became Mrs James Bond. She played Tracy, who married George Lazenby’s 007 in the 1969 film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
One of the more unusual offerings is a typewritten letter to a fan from the Rolling Stones, dated March 9, 1964 giving forthcoming concert dates in Scotland.
It is among a whole host of Rolling Stone memorabilia that are coming under the hammer.
The letter concludes, signed in black ballpoint and blue ink: “Please find enclosed the hair you asked for, thanks again for the lovely, flattering and pleasing letter.”
It was signed of by Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts, with four small pieces of card with hair clippings attached.”
The auctioneers believe the letter and hair along with the front half of the original postmarked envelope will fetch between £700 and £900.
Also available are various Sean Connery artefacts including a signed costume worn for his role as Dr Robert Campbell in Medicine Man valued at between £2000 and £3000 and believed to have been bought by Ms Rigg at a 1991 auction for a charity that provides holiday flights to Florida for seriously ill chldren.
There is also a brown tweed jacket (below) the Scot wore in the 1990 movie The Russia House valued at between £500 and £700.
Also in the massive sale is a promotional poster for The High Road, a live album recorded at the Apollo in Glasgow on December 20, 1982, during the band’s Avalon tour which is expected to fetch £300 to £500.
One of the priciest lots on offer is Van Halen’s signed and stage-used EVH Charvel Art Series electric guitar carries unique artwork and is expected to fetch £25,000 to £30,000.
Guitarist Eddie Van Halen first introduced his custom designed EVH Art Series guitars during his band’s summer 2004 reunion with Sammy Hagar as part of Charvel’s 25th anniversary celebration.
Once created, the tour guitar’ as they were known, were then played by Eddie Van Halen on stage during the Best of Both Worlds tour later that year and featured on songs such as Why Can’t This Be Love.
Diana Rigg is believed to have purchased the guitar through online auctions on eBay in 2005.
Another of the more expensive items up for grabs is a dress signed and worn by the late great British singer Amy Winehouse, which is expected to fetch between £30,000 and £40,000, along with two photos of the late singer taken by Alex Lake.
The blue and pink short halter-neck dress in Hawaiian-style fabric with flowers was worn by Ms Winehouse on stage during a performance at the HSBC arena in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil in 2011.
She wore the dress with a pink belt in images and videos of the concert online as she sang hits such as Rehab, Back to Black, Valerie and You Know I’m No Good.
It was later signed by her with a blue felt-tip together with an ‘x’ in an area on the front of the dress.
It is understood to have been acquired by Ms Rigg in 2012 via an auction which was featured on the Channel 4 television programme Four Rooms.
It was was originally offered directly by the Amy Winehouse Foundation, with proceeds from the auction going to the charity Hopes and Dreams, which grants terminally ill children their last wishes.
Also included in the sale will be Chaplin’s cravat worn by the actor during the filming of Limelight and a bronze sculpture of Buster Keaton and a Yamaha G3 acoustic grand piano, used on records by bands such as The Stone Roses, The Charlatans, The Manic Street Preachers and, most famously, on the worldwide Oasis hits Wonderwall, Don't Look Back in Anger and Champagne Supernova.
Katherine Schofield, Bonhams director of popular culture, said that the piano has sat in Rockfield Studios just outside Monmouth in Wales since 1990.
It has been available for use by the likes of The Proclaimers who have had sessions in The Coach House studio.
The 49-year-old piano has an estimated value of £20,000 to £30,000, while a pearl export series four-piece drum kit used by the Oasis drummer Tony McCarroll between 1991 and 1995 is also available valued at between £12,000 to £18,000 Mr McCarroll is believed to have bought the drum kit from Johnny Roadhouse in Manchester.
It featured on Oasis’s debut album Definitely Maybe in 1994 as well as hit singles Supersonic, and Live Forever.
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