Celebrity body parts sold at auction can generate interest from people with money to spare. Who else would collect the body parts of famous people?
Truman Capote’s ashes were sold at auction in 2016 for nearly $45,000. Johnny Carson’s widow owned the ashes (a portion of them). Joanne Carson had been a good friend of Capote, who had died at her Bel-Air home in 1984. Capote was only 59 years old and died from liver disease. Joanne kept his ashes because they gave her comfort. See The Guardian article here: Truman Capote’s ashes sold for $43,750 | Truman Capote | The Guardian
Napoleon’s penis is not with him anymore. It was removed from his body by the doctor who conducted the autopsy, it went to the French priest, then to a London bookseller, then to someone in Philadelphia, and lastly, was purchased at auction by John D. Lattimer, a leading American urologist. See the Washington Post article here: The strange journey of Napoleon’s penis – The Washington Post
In 2006, William Shatner sold his kidney stone to the Las Vegas casino Golden Palace for $25,000. The money was donated to Habitat for Humanity. William Shatner sells kidney stone for charity (today.com)
In 2014, Willie Nelson’s pigtails were sold at auction for $37,000. Nelson had cut them off and given them to Waylon Jennings as a gift to celebrate Jennings’ decision to stop drinking. They were sold after Jennings’ death. Willie Nelson’s braids are snapped up at auction for $37,000 – BBC News
That brings me back to the question of who would buy these things. It turns out a collector named John Reznikoff has a vast celebrity hair collection, including hair from Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, John F. Kennedy, and Beethoven. Mr. Reznikoff said he would have paid $50,000 for Willie Nelson’s braids had he known they were on the auction block. A Little Off the Top for History – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
All kinds of body parts are sold at auction, including teeth, hands, and skulls. Read about it here: 10 Human Body Parts Offered For Sale At Auction – Listverse
I don’t know about the rest of you, but for me, owning the body parts of other humans is just plain creepy. I wouldn’t buy these artifacts, even if I did have money to spare.