People pay more when celebrities leave a magical mark on memorabilia

Ohio Christian University

Auction prices for celebrities’ belongings can be downright ridiculous. A tissue used by Scarlett Johansson sold for a whopping $5,300, and someone shelled out more than $30,000 for John Lennon’s molar a few years ago. If you’ve ever wondered what these buyers were thinking, you’re in luck: a new study in PNAS delves into the strange world of celebrity memorabilia to help us understand their appeal and their value.

So why do some people pay such absurd prices for belongings that were touched by their favorite public figures? One hypothesis is that people believe—either consciously or unconsciously—that objects that have been in close contact with someone can transfer some essence or quality of theirs to a new owner. This has been termed “the law of magical contagion,” or simply "contagion." While it seems preposterous, research suggests that this phenomenon is more widespread than you might expect. Studies have found evidence of contagion affecting everything from everyday products to the land that people live on. It's not terribly far-fetched to think that people might subconsciously be looking to capture a bit of Scarlett Johansson's charm or John Lennon's talent.

To determine whether contagion plays a role in how people value celebrities’ belongings, Yale University researchers George Newman and Paul Bloom looked into the estate auctions of some well-known public figures. They hypothesized that the extent of perceived physical contact between an item and its owner would affect its selling price. If they were right, objects that were thought to have been in close contact with a beloved celebrity would sell for more than those that had likely never been touched.