In 1953, Elvis Presley walked into the Memphis Recording Service and put his voice to vinyl for the first time. One lucky memorabilia collector will have the opportunity to own the legendary piece of music history when Graceland puts it and 67 other Elvis artifacts up for auction next year.
The "Auction at Graceland" will return for a second year on Jan. 8 to give "music fans and pop culture collectors from the world... the opportunity to own a piece of history," according to the Graceland website. The auction will take place during the annual birthday celebration for Presley at the Graceland estate.
Presley paid $4 to make the 78 mm acetate recording featuring the two songs "My Happiness" (Side A) and "That's When Your Heartaches Begin" (Side B) in June 1953. He made the recording for his mother's birthday, but the family didn't own a record player. The King took the acetate to fried Ed Leek, who did own the proper equipment, and left the recording at his home.
Graceland Authenticated researched and evaluated the 68 "genuine Elvis artifacts" from third-party collectors that will go up for auction. The company, formed earlier this year to work with Graceland's archives, "sets a new standard for pop culture authentication to ensure pop culture artifact accuracy."
The other artifacts up for auction include Presley's first driver's license, a jacket from "Viva Las Vegas" and an autographed copy of "That's All Right" 78 record #209, the first professional recording of Elvis on the Sun Record Label.
Elvis was a pack rack who collected receipts, photos and other documentation that has helped the authentication process of his items, according to Joel Weinshanker, the founder of National Entertainment Collectibles Association which acquired the rights to operate Graceland in 2013.
"There is no better place to find out if an archive is real or not," Weinshanker told Forbes about the Graceland estate.
The Auction at Graceland will start at 7 p.m. CST (8 p.m. EST) at the new Archive Studio at Elvis Presley's Graceland in Memphis. Collectors can bid in person, online or by phone, but online bidding will start two weeks prior to the live auction. Graceland will put the biddable items on display during traditional tour hours starting on Jan. 5.
