Reports indicate that a suede shoe worn by singer and actor, Elvis Presley, has been sold for £120,000 ($152,208).
The auction took place on June 28, 2024, in Devizes, England. Auctioneers Henry Aldrige & Son were expecting it to sell between £100,000-£120,000 and certainly got the figure they anticipated.
Elvis Presley, who died in August 1977, is said to have first acquired the shoes after he performed his hit song ‘Blue Suede Shoes’.
He is believed to have made various public appearances with the show throughout the 1950s and gave it to a friend when he was drafted into the US Army in the late 1950s.
“The shoes are what “you think of immediately when you talk about Elvis Presley” and they “transcend popular culture,” auctioneer Andrew Aldridge was quoted.
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The salesperson added that before Elvis joined the American army, he had a get-together with close friends and gave away some of the clothes “he didn’t think he would need or want when he came back from the army.”
The auctioneer named one Alan Fortas, Elvis’s branch manager and a friend of his, who had kept the shoe.
Over the years, the shoe is said to have spent time on display at various museums, including that of Jimmy Velvet, who was a close friend of Presley and used to run a museum of Elvis memorabilia.
Born Elvis Aaron Presley, the Can’t Help Falling In Love singer he is ranked as one of the “most significant cultural figures of the 20th century.”
He is known for his “energized interpretation of songs and sexually provocative performance style.”
The phenomenal talent is also celebrated as one of the best-selling music artistes of all time, with sales estimated at around 500 million records worldwide.
Public records indicate that he was commercially successful in many genres, including pop, country, rockabilly, rhythm and blues, adult contemporary, and gospel.
He won three Grammy Awards, received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at age 36, and has been inducted into multiple music halls of fame.