The small strand of David Bowie's hair reached the price of $18,750 (16,865 euros), Heritage Auctions said. A former employee of Madam Tussauds in London who worked on Bowie's 1983 wax figure provided the hair.

It was only one of many celebrity-related items at the Beverly Hills auction on Saturday, which also saw Elvis Presley's army jacket and John Wayne's footprints go on the block.

Most notably, Prince's iconic "Yellow Cloud" guitar was sold to Indiana Colts owner Jim Irsay for $137,500 (124,000 euros). The pop star played the distinctive-looking instrument at numerous concerts in the late 1980s.

"As celebrity stage-used instruments go, this piece is as unique as Beethoven's piano or John Coltrane's saxophone," said Heritage's director of music memorabilia Garry Shrum when the item was put up for sale.

The maple-wood guitar broke on a French TV show in 1994, and was held in a recording studio after repair.

'Cursed auction'

Prince died in April this year after a fentanyl overdose, David Bowie lost a battle with cancer in January.

"I call this the cursed auction," Heritage Auctions' Eric Bradley told the dpa news agency earlier this week. "All these artists were cut down in their prime."

The auction house was forced to abandon the sale of Whitney Houston's Emmy at a separate Friday event after a US judge signed a temporary restraining order. The US Television Academy argues it owns the rights to the statuette. But even without the Emmy, the collection of Houston estate memorabilia drew over half a million dollars from buyers from around the world.

Houston was found dead in a Los Angeles hotel bathtub in 2012.

dj/tj (AFP, AP, dpa)