David Bowie’s Jean Genie lyrics to be auctioned in London

London: A signed set of David Bowie’s handwritten lyrics to The Jean Genie are scheduled to be auctioned next month and are expected to sell for between £12,000 (Dh69,000) and £15,000.

Bowie wrote the lyrics in 1972, sending them as a gift to Neal Peters, the head of his American fan club. Consisting of 18 lines “in black ballpoint pen on cream-lined notebook paper”, according to Bonhams, the pages are accompanied with “documents relating to... the work [Peter] did with the fan club during its infancy”.

In addition to these lyrics from Bowie’s Aladdin Sane album, the July 3 auction includes Robbie Williams’ lyrics to Deceiving Is Believing, the Small Faces’ Ivor Novello award and Marc Bolan’s old Afghan coat. There’s also a contract for Bowie’s concert at the Ealing College of Technology on April 29, 1969, “between the hours of 12:30 and 13:30”. Bowie and his then-guitarist, John Hutchinson, were to receive a payment “of £12”.

There’s even something for creepy Rolling Stones fans or DNA-hungry mad scientists: one of Mick Jagger’s ex-girlfriends is selling a lock of his hair. Offering a 50-year-old parcel of “washed and trimmed” brown hair, Chrissie Shrimpton hopes to raise around £2,000 for the Changing Faces charity. She claims her grandmother tucked it away, unbeknownst to her, while she and Jagger were visiting.

In 2011, one of John Lennon’s cavity-ridden molars was sold at auction in Stockport. The aged tooth went to a Canadian dentist, who paid £19,500.