Rolling Stones heirloom? Lock of Sir Mick Jagger's hair snipped by ex-girlfriend Chrissie Shrimpton fetches £4,000 at auction

A clump of Sir Mick Jagger’s hair has fetched £4,000 at auction, twice its estimated sale price and more than four times the £900 raised for a lock of bandmate Keith Richards’ barnet.

Sir Mick, who has retained his fetchingly shaggy crop for the duration of the Rolling Stones’ 50-year career, gave up this particular snippet of hair to his first girlfriend Chrissie Shrimpton (sister of the supermodel Jean) before the band had reached the height of their fame.

The couple met while Sir Mick was a student at the London School of Economics and the fragment of hair was secretly saved by Chrissie’s grandmother after she gave him a haircut while he was visiting the family home.

The heirloom, auctioned in a small paper envelope with the words “Mick Jagger’s hair after being washed + trimmed by Chris at Rose Hill Farm” inscribed on the front, had been expected to fetch between £1,500 and £2,000 at the Bonhams sale. But, perhaps in response to the Stones’ widely praised headline set at Glastonbury last weekend, a bidding frenzy pushed the price to up to double that.

The winning bidder's name was not disclosed by Bonhams, but the auction house revealed it had gone to a UK-based private collector. There had been speculation that Sir Mick, who is a fierce protector of his privacy, would bid for the hair himself.

The lock of dark blonde hair was passed to Chrissie Shrimpton’s aunt upon her grandmother’s death, and then onto a cousin who returned it to Chrissie, now 67.

All proceeds from the sale will be donated to Changing Faces, a charity for people who are living with conditions, marks or scars that affect their appearance.

By comparison, a lock of hair snipped from fellow Stone Keith Richards’ head by 16-year-old fan Maggie Richardson in Preston in 1964 was auctioned last month for a reported £900.

Sir Mick and Chrissie’s relationship lasted three years – allegedly inspiring the songs “Under My Thumb” and “Stupid Girl” - during which time the Stones gained worldwide fame.

The couple became engaged and moved into a flat in Regent's Park together, but split up in 1966.