People in the 18th and 19th centuriescollected hair as a keepsake to remind them of loved ones, much asreligious people have long kept skull and bone fragments as holyrelics. In the world of collecting, what's old is new again: Hair,clothes and other ephemera belonging to celebrities are hot.

“It's an old hobby that is making a comeback, and collectors aretaking it very seriously,” observes Adrian Roose, a specialist withthe London-based auction house Paul Fraser Collectibles. “Aone-inch strand of Elvis Presley's hair will typically sell for$1,600 at auction. The most expensive hair was a clump from thehead of Che Guevara—that sold for more than $100,000 a few yearsback.”

Clothes worn by celebrities can be just as expensive. On theauction block at Paul Fraser in mid-November, for instance, was ablack turtleneck worn by Andy Warhol (asking price roughly$15,800), while a floral dress worn by Marilyn Monroe in the 1962film “Something's Gotta Give” sold for $57,600 on eBay, making itone of the auction site's priciest items in 2010. Marked-up filmscripts and handwritten song lyrics are also popular, as well assports trophies and uniforms owned by famous athletes.

Autographs by Clark Gable and other movie stars from Hollywood'searly days command top dollar among the Baby Boomer generation,observes Simeon Lipman, an appraiser who specializes in pop-culturememorabilia and who frequently appears on the PBS series “AntiquesRoadshow.”

But today, Lipman says, “as people in their late thirties andearly forties start collecting, we're seeing a lot of hip hop, punkand grunge memorabilia becoming very, very collectible. Fifteenyears ago, you could have gotten it for a song.”

Given that many celebrity items are truly one of a kind,appraisers and auction houses sometimes dig deep to determinevaluations, says Brian Kathenes, managing partner of NationalAppraisal Consultants and a certified member of the InternationalSociety of Appraisers. 

“We always try to find out what the collector paid for the itemand whether it was sold at auction or in a private sale,” heexplains. “The price paid is the best comparable. If we don't havethat, and if there's nothing else like the item, we'll look forother iconic items in a parallel market, which is an acceptedmethodology.”

Unusual collection items can also present a challenge when itcomes to structuring an insurance policy, says Julie Sherlock,assistant vice president and premiere underwriting manager for AcePrivate Wealth Services—but fortunately, “there are appraisers foreverything, and we rely on those experts to help us.” Once a valueand limits have been established to determine coverage rates, sheadds, “we ask the same questions we always do about where an itemis stored and what the potential catastrophic exposures are.”

Ironically, while savvy collectors are attuned to the need topurchase specialty coverage for their celebrity-related ephemera,film stars, musicians, athletes and other public figures oftendon't realize the potential value of their possessions and the needto protect them. “It's just their stuff—their trophies, theiruniforms—and they're just sitting on it,” Lipman observes, addingthat this presents a good opportunity for insurance agents andbrokers to educate these clients about appropriate coverage. “I'veseen quite a few insurance companies proactively approaching theirclients about it.”