£620, just like hat
Cooper's fez goes under the hammer
A fez that once belonged to Tommy Cooper has been sold for £620 at auction.
The undisclosed buyer paid more than five times the pre-sale estimate.
An auction house spokeswoman said: 'We were really surprised by the interest that the fez generated. That's reflected in the sale price.'
The fez was sold by a Blackpool woman whose later husband, Ernest Flowers, ran a menswear shop close to the town’s theatre and opera house.
He became friends with many of the stars appearing there, and Cooper gave him the headgear in the early Sixties.
It was auctioned by Kendal Auction Rooms in Cumbria – a company that more usually deals with livestock auctions.
Cooper took to wearing a fez while entertaining fellow troops in Egypt during the Second World War.
Short of a pith helmet prop for his act, he whipped off a nearby waiter’s fez and used that instead. It got a big laugh, so the hat became a permanent trademark of Tommy Cooper's act.
Published: 28 Sep 2005
