Elvis's $32,500 diamond ring sparkles at Heritage
The 'ultimate ' Elvis Presley sale also included a jar stuffed with his hair, sold for a quifftastic $16,680 The strangest investment you have not heard about headlined in Heritage Auction Studios ' Final Elvis auction, over Saturday and Sunday : a jar full of The King's hair. Apparently, Elvis's hairdresser Homer M Gilleland picked up the star's jet-black dyed hair, which was famously fashioned into a quiff, and later presented it to a buddy. At the end the lot realized $16,680, with Heritage's sale netting $623,500 overall. Celebrity hair has proved itself a regularly great investment on the markets. For instance, a lump of the hair of Ernesto Che Guevara sold for $100,000 in October 2007. And, in an auction in Nov 2009, a single strand of Elvis's hair sold for $1,645. Obviously, the fortunate customer has a probably great discernible investment on their hands. Today ( Aug sixteen ) happens to be the anniversary of the King's death, who snuffed it at his Graceland mansion in 1977, aged just 42. Other major highlights in the sale included a gold-and-diamond cameo ring given by Elvis himself to the grandmama of the consignor, Blair Hill.
Predicted to sell close to its $10,000 minimum guesstimate, the ring shot all of the way up to $32,500 to cheers in the saleroom. The winning bid went to Michael Werner of Vegas. In the meantime , a three-page real estate sales contract for The King's famous Graceland home - signed by "Elvis Aron Presley" next to the signatures of his mum and dad - brought $39,000. Intriguingly the property was not given its "Graceland" moniker by Elvis, but was really named after Grace, the child of its prior owner, F E Toof. And, amazingly, one of the sale's most engaging and private Elvis souvenirs items, a White Knabe Grand Piano and Bench, failed to discover a consumer.
The piano was predicted at $1m, but bidding didn't match the $500,000 minimum price. But given its phenomenal provenance - which you can read more about here - the piano will doubtlessly get a new buyer at some point.
