Happy birthday, Elvis Presley! Graceland auction snags $137,000 for single concert film

Serious Elvis Presley fans marked the singer’s birthday on Friday by buying up the King’s personal effects at a Graceland auction.

A 1972 concert film from the Memorial Auditorium in Buffalo, N.Y., went for $137,000 (it was projected to go for $25,000 to $35,000). And a pair of sunglasses expected to fetch $15,000 sold for $27,500.

The quirky but valuable reel-to-reel recording of a Louisiana Hayride radio show in which the phrase “Elvis has left the building” is first uttered went for $10,000.

However, a Gibson Ebony Dove guitar he used in a concert and then gave away to a fan failed to bring the minimum $300,000 and didn’t sell. The highest bid was $270,000. It was used on stage during an Aloha From Hawaii concert in 1973 and later given to a fan in Asheville, N.C., according to the auction catalog.

Graceland, Presley’s former home-turned-museum in Memphis, Tenn., held the auction. Invaluable provided an online bidding option.

A leather coat went for $4,250 and a gray Guayabera shirt owned by the King fetched $3,750.

Other ways to celebrate: Elvis Presley Day was declared in Memphis at 9:30 a.m. Friday (local time).

The auction featured 126 items and began at 8 a.m. and ended at 3 p.m. Pacific time on Thursday (in person and online bidders were allowed).

The top item at last year’s auction was a 1953 acetate recording of “My Happiness,” the first song Presley ever recorded. It sold for $300,000.

Presley was born Jan. 8, 1935, and died at Graceland on Aug. 16, 1977.

Check out the items that sold at the auction website Invaluable.

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