Elvis Presley’s Blue Suede Shoes Sell for $150,000 at Auction
Gifted to a friend before he entered the Army in 1958, Elvis’ famous blue suede shoes, worn on and offstage and immortalized in song, leave bidders “All Shook Up.”
Elvis Presley is a pop culture icon in every way, as famous for his flamboyant style as he is for his genre-defining music. After covering Carl Perkins’s “Blue Suede Shoes” on his debut album, he wore a pair of those eponymous shoes to interviews and performances as he shot to stardom. The night before he left for the Army in 1958, he held a party at Graceland and gave some of his clothes as gifts to his friends. His blue suede shoes, size 10 1/2, stamped “Nunn-Bush,” went to Alan Fortas, foreman at the Circle G Ranch and an extra in many of Elvis’s movies.
Henry Aldridge & Son Ltd of Wiltshire, England, included those shoes in their Two-Day Auction of Showbiz, Fine Art, Jewellery, and Collector’s Items starting on June 28. The shoes sold for £120,000, or a little over $150,000, to a collector in California. The auction house is no stranger to pop culture history, having made news within the last year for sales of Titanic memorabilia, including a gold pocket watch belonging to a famous passenger and a first-class menu.
Elvis famously wore the shoes when he appeared on the “Steve Allen Show” on July 1, 1956. He mentioned them before breaking into his song “I Want You, I Need You, I Love You.” In the same episode, he sang “Hound Dog” to a dog and appeared in a comedy sketch with actor Andy Griffith.
Jimmy Velvet, Elvis’s longtime friend, and founder of the Elvis Presley Museum, authenticated the shoes. The auction lot included a signed letter and certificate of authenticity, as well as a letter from Alan Fortas detailing the gift.
While a stage-worn costume piece, let alone one that’s the subject of a hit song might be out of the price range of the average fan, Elvis Presley memorabilia remains a popular category for collectors, from inexpensive ephemera like postcards to custom guitars. There is even an auction house, Graceland Auctions, dedicated to the King of Rock n’ Roll.
Q: I have an Elvis doll made by Hasbro in 1993. The box is labeled ”Elvis Jailhouse Rock, 45 RPM.” The doll has never been on display, and the box has never even been opened. Can you tell me what is in the box and if it has any value?
Elvis Jailhouse Rock Doll and 45 RPM Hasbro 1993, Photo: eBay
A: In the 1990s, Hasbro made three Elvis Presley dolls to honor the King of Rock ‘n Roll. Your doll’s box includes a numbered 12-inch posable Elvis doll dressed in a red jacket with black trim, a white shirt, black pants, and white shoes. He has a removable guitar to commemorate the photo shoot for his hit record ”Jailhouse Rock.” The doll is packaged with a doll stand that has an Elvis facsimile signature and a certificate of authenticity. The other dolls in the series commemorate Elvis ”Teen Idol” and the Elvis ”’68 Special.” At the time of this writing, the value was about $30 to $40. As of July 2024, values have fallen. A quick check of eBay reveals prices as low as $8.00 plus shipping.
Sometimes, Elvis memorabilia sells more around January 8 (his birthday) and August 16 (his death).
Q: I have an Elvis Presley music box decanter. It stands 14 1/2 inches tall, and it still has the whiskey in it. The music box base plays “Love Me Tender” and has “Sincerely Elvis ’77” on the front. A family member said it’s worth a lot. Can you tell me its value?
A: Your decanter is one of the “Portrait of Elvis” series from the Americana Porcelain by McCormick Collection. This series of five decanters was made between 1977 and 1980. They show Elvis at different points in his career. The figural decanters are hand-painted Japanese porcelain and contain McCormick Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. They are mounted on music box bases that play songs made famous by Elvis.
Your decanter is the first in the “Portrait of Elvis” series. It pictures Elvis just before his death in 1977. It sells for $5 to $35 depending on condition, whether or not the whiskey is still in the unopened bottle, and whether or not it has its original box.
Elvis Presley Music Box Decanter
Elvis Presley Suitcase
Q:I have had a small Elvis Presley suitcase since I was a kid in the mid-1950s. The case is 12 by 8 by 6 inches and has black-and-white photos of Elvis all over it. The trim and plastic handle on the top are blue. The bottom is marked ‘Copyright 1956, Elvis Presley Enterprises, All Rights Reserved.’ Could you tell me what it’s worth?
A:Elvis Presley Enterprises was incorporated in the spring of 1956 to copyright and market Elvis memorabilia. That’s the same year Elvis hit the national scene and had five No. 1 singles. Your overnight case was one of more than 180 licensed Elvis products introduced in 1956-57. All of these early products are wanted by Elvis collectors. These overnight cases, also referred to as makeup cases, were made in several colors, including pink, and brown. At the time this article was initially posted, an overnight case like yours was auctioned in 2002 for $370.
A July 2024 review of eBay and WorthPoint sold prices revealed that a brown case like yours bought $450 on eBay in 2023, while the blue case below, which sold in 2021, brought $600.
This Elvis case sold for $600 in April of 2021. Photo: WorthPoint