Image Courtesy of Omega Auction House
For the past month or so the dental social-centric newswire has been buzzing with the news of the Beatle’s front man’s nasty gnarly discolored tooth.
Yes, one of John Lennon’s teeth was up for sale at auction.
Pre-auction predictions and posturing were abundant, rumors flew, and what was forecasted as a $16,000 ceiling for the dingy damaged tooth, eventually turned out to be a $31,000 final sale.
This past Saturday in England, Omega Auction House successfully sold the decrepit piece of dental history (John Lennon’s tooth) to…a dentist in Canada.
It figures!
As the BBC explained, the story about the former tooth trauma goes like this:
The tooth was given to Lennon’s former house keeper Dot Jarlett when she worked for him at Kenwood mansion in Surrey in the late 1960s.
He told her to give it her daughter “as a souvenir” after he had pulled it out in the kitchen of the Weybridge property.
Dot’s son Barry Jarlett said: “He was in the kitchen and he had this tooth which he had wrapped in a piece of paper.
“He said: ‘Dot will you dispose of this’ and then he said: ‘Or, as your daughter’s a Beatles fan, you can give to her as a souvenir’.
“It is something that we felt was very personal and my mum actually gave it to my sister who has kept it safe.”
It comes with an affidavit signed by Mrs. Jarlett who has previously sold items including the jacket worn by John Lennon on the Rubber Soul album.
“He was very generous to my mother,” Mr. Jarlett said.
“He treated her like family because he didn’t really have a very big family and he really looked after my mum. He used to call her Aunty Dot.”
Imagine what that tooth is going to be worth in another 40 years…
Aside from John Lennon, what historical person do you think has the most famous teeth?
Sources:
BBC – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-15357068
RollingStone.com – $16,000 ceiling for the dingy damaged tooth
