In today’s live music climate, getting a t-shirt or commemorative bottle opener is an accepted way of remembering a concert or festival. Back in the fifties and sixties, people realised that this kind of memorabilia this could be a way to make money fast. Nowhere was this more apparent than in the merchandise and licences surrounding Elvis Presley.
Elvis Memorabilia Still Holds Value
Last year at Prestige Auctions in Grimsby, a total of 99 lots of Elvis memorabilia went under the hammer. Together, they managed to rake in a grand total of £14,000. Amongst the many items included were one of Elvis part smoked cigars, a ring and of course, the ubiquitous jumpsuit.
The collection had been amassed in parts since the sixties, when Elvis was at his most popular. In a statement to the press, the auctioneers said the seller had wanted it to go to collectors as his family had no interest in it. In the same year, a pair of blue suede shoes worn by Elvis sold for £120,000.
Odd Elvis Licences
There are few stones left unturned when it comes to products Elvis has not been licensed to. This is when a person’s image, likeness and intellectual property are loaned for profit. Even Elvis’s own stage banter was licensed for one of his albums, “Having Fun on Stage with Elvis”. It featured no music, just snippets of Elvis talking to the audience.
Elvis even graced a slot machine titled “Elvis the King Lives”. This is not as rare as some people may think, with many stars and movies feature them, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and rock bands like KISS. Movie themed slots are still popular today in the online slot industry. For example, specific slot games like Jurassic World: Raptor Riches have seen the popular film series turned into an online slot game.
Not only have games used licences from popular figures and movies to attract new players, but slots online UK have also utilised tropes like Ancient Egypt in titles like Book of Dead and vampire horror in games like Immortal Romance. So, an Elvis themed slot is not as unusual as it may first seem!
Strange Elvis Auctions
It is not just licensed products that get sold either. Some of the highest ticketed products are simply items Elvis touched or used by him. A cup Elvis drank from at a gig in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1956 may have been useless at the time. Yet one was sold on auction site eBay for $3,300.
One of the most gross has to have been the baseball-sized ball of hair that sold at auction for $72,500. It had been collected by a barber named Homer Gilleland, who was his personal hairdresser. Just as disgusting was the dentist who paid £5,200 for one of his tooth crowns at an auction in the United Kingdom.
As a rock and roll icon, Elvis’s popularity does not seem to be diminishing. In fact, nearly fifty years after his death he is arguably as popular as ever. This will bring in a whole new generation of collectors, which means these prices may continue to rise.