Another Item at the First Rockhurst Auction I Found Interesting

During the past decade I have featured 56 auctions containing Elvis collectibles on this blog. I have seen many checks signed by Elvis, but they didn’t bring in anything like the $4,600 for this one. The reason is right there in the title — Completely in His Hand.

 

 

Elvis not only signed his name, he filled out the entire check.  Apparently, by late December of 1955, other people had already started taking care of his checks, and he just signed them, so checks completely in Elvis’ hand are very rare.

 

Here’s the other reasons I find this check interesting

I like that Elvis printed National Bank of Commerce, but wrote the amount of the check in cursive.

I like that he signed it E. A. Presley.

I like his home address – 1414 Geltwell drive.  Elvis and his family stayed there for just four more months before moving to Audubon Drive.

I like that Elvis could use a counter check without putting an account number on it. And this was very early in his career.

 

The Rockhurst Auction website provided some interesting information.  They presume Elvis was out shopping for Christmas presents when wrote this check on December 23. If he needed to get gifts for the guys in his growing entourage and and possibly some family members, a bunch of cameras could fit the bill.  He certainly had plenty of money to spend.

“Elvis was flying high that holiday season having just signed with RCA weeks earlier.”

 

 

So, just imagine Elvis heading on down to Ed’s Camera Shop two days before Christmas.  None of the guys were with him, because he wanted to keep this secret.  Did Elvis have any money or credit cards with him?  It would not seem to matter. The shop owner produced a handy Universal Check for Elvis when he brought all his stuff to the counter.

 

 

The amount on this check was $310.77, which is $2,975 in today’s money.

 

“Other records from the period indicate that Elvis spent of total of nearly $700 {$6,700 today} at Ed’s Camera shop that week, so we imagine there were quite a few cameras in people’s stockings that year!  He may have bought film cameras, as well.”

 

I’m guessing part of the cost was for gift-wrapping at the store.  I can’t see Elvis bringing everything home and wrapping them himself.  But I can see a group of happy folks sitting around Graceland opening their gifts from Elvis on Christmas day.

 

A Word about Rockhurst Auctions

 Over the past seven years, Graceland Auctions has produced over $7.5 million in auction revenue for just Elvis items.  The man who ran that program was Jeff Marren.  As I covered the Graceland Auctions on ElvisBlog, I had numerous email conversations with Jeff, and a couple of phone calls.  He even sent me some pictures to use in a post.

Jeff is now the owner of Rockhurst Auctions that will cover many disciplines: sports memorabilia, historicals, rock and roll, Hollywood entertainment, and more.  The first Rockhurst Auction on July 9 contained 170 Elvis items.  I have done posts on two, and there several more to come.

If you would like to scroll through the catalog, here is the link.

http://rockhurstauctions.com/catalog.aspx

 

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