The sister of dentist Dr Michael Zuk, who bought John Lennon’s tooth for £19,000 last November, has been given a small piece of the molar to use as part of a sculpture in tribute to the late musician. Kirsten Zuk has created a clay model of Lennon for the Edmonton Fringe Festival – with any donations going towards the children’s charity Smile Train – and incorporated the tooth into her design. She said ‘I love John Lennon – I’ve been a huge fan all my life. This is like a time-capsule. It will contain his DNA.’
Speaking to Music News, Dr Zuk spoke about his sister’s artwork to try and get some publicity for the charity; ‘Lennon gave his tooth to a fan in good spirit so I wanted to do a few things that would raise awareness of the charity Smile Train, so we are asking people that come to view the sculpture at Kristen’s Art Show this weekend in Edmonton to consider making a donation which helps children with cleft lip and palate.’ The tooth isn’t the only thing related to the former-Beatle that went under the hammer recently, Dr Zuk mentioned that the house Lennon once lived in has just been put up for sale for a rumoured £15million, ‘anything Lennon is almost priceless,’ he added.
The tooth itself went up for auction in Stockport last year and almost doubled its reserve price, after the singer’s housekeeper Dorothy Jarlet held on to it for nearly forty years.