| Autopsy items linked to Elvis pulled from auction |
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CHICAGO – Everything about Elvis seems to fascinate collectors. Last year a lock of his hair sold for more than $18,000. So, it should come as no surprise that when Leslie Hindman Auctioneers of Chicago sent out a press release saying they were offering tools used during the autopsy performed on Elvis that people sat up and took notice.
The tools were to have been offered on Aug. 12, just four days before the anniversary of the King’s death, but now the tools are embroiled in controversy and have been withdrawn from the auction.
According to the original press release sent out by Hindman, the autopsy instruments used in the embalmment and preparation of the body of Elvis Presley had been saved for many years by the senior embalmer at the Memphis Funeral Home.
Presley died on Aug. 16, 1977. Following the autopsy, the body was escorted by the Memphis police from Baptist Memorial Hospital to the funeral home.
“Throughout the evening, the embalmers, watched closely by the Memphis Police Department, prepared Presley’s body for a private viewing that was to occur the next morning. Preparing the body involved embalming the body, dressing the body in the suit chosen by Elvis’s family, applying make-up, and dying Elvis’s graying hair to the jet-black color accustomed by his fans,” the press release said.
“All of the items used in the autopsy and funeral preparations will be offered at auction, including: rubber gloves, forceps, lip brushes, comb and eye liner, needle injectors, an arterial tube and aneurysm hooks. According to the owner, the items were used only once.
“In addition to the instruments, the collection will include a toe tag marked ‘John Doe,’ which was used as an anonymous replacement on the body of Elvis Presley after the original was stolen by an eager fan during the chaos at the hospital. The mortician, who prepared the body, retained this tag and the instruments, along with the preparation room case report, the case sheet, dry cleaning tags, the hanger to the singer’s suit and tie and the coffin shipping invoice, which are marked ‘Elvis Presley.’”
The items were to be offered in two lots estimated at $6,000-$8,000 and $4,000-$6,000.
E.C. Daves, president of the Memphis Funeral Home said there is no way to tell whether the items offered were authentic. Daves said a retired embalmer claims he took the items after Presley’s embalming, but another employee told Daves the equipment had been sterilized and used again.
“Due to questions of ownership, the retired embalmer and his son have decided to turn over the property to the Memphis Funeral Home and its parent company, Service Corporation International,” according to a subsequent press release from Leslie Hindman announcing the withdrawal of the autopsy items.
According to a July 22 article in The Commercial Appeal of Memphis, the Memphis Funeral Home objected to the auction of the embalming property saying they were taken without the funeral home’s consent.
According to the newspaper article, Daves said he was awaiting word from the Elvis Presley estate before deciding what to do with the autopsy items.
The Aug. 12 Hindman auction may not have the Elvis items, but it will include some stellar lots such as a Gerard Mercator atlas. The two volume atlas is the rare first English edition and is expected to sell in the $30,000-50,000 range.
Contact: 312-280-1212 or www.leslie hindman.com |
| 8/11/2010 |
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