COLLECTIBLES : Elvis Sightings Keep Him King

As Mojo Nixon would sing, Elvis is everywhere.

Although he’s been dead for more than 15 years, the image and music of Elvis Presley are alive and flourishing. Impersonators abound; his face graces coffee mugs, calendars, T-shirts and the like, and he shows up regularly on the cover of supermarket tabloids under such headlines as “I Saw the King at a Dairy Queen.”

And on Friday, the United States Postal Service will officially begin selling Elvis Presley commemorative stamps, featuring the young (slim) Elvis. Elvis would have been 58 on that day.

The stamps will add more fuel to the Elvis collectibles fire, which includes record albums, sheet music, bracelets, dolls, lobby cards, pins, pennants, posters, autographs and photos.

Elvis Presley collectibles can be divided into two categories: items that came out before his death in 1977 and those issued afterward.

Although all Elvis items are collectible, the former are much more valuable, said Shirley Deavers, who has been collecting Elvis memorabilia for the last 10 years. Deavers sells Elvis items at four booths--two in Old Chicago Antique Mall in Buena Park and one each at the Sleepy Hollow antique malls in Garden Grove and Long Beach.

“That’s what the true collectors want: the pre-death items,” said Deavers, of Lakewood. She added that most of her Elvis pre-death items were snatched up when she first began selling memorabilia at the antique malls about five years ago. However, she has several pre-death magazines and books available at her booth at the Sleepy Hollow in Garden Grove.

Other items for sale at Deavers’ booths include records, tapes, pins, music boxes, statues, decanters, pictures and guitars.

Prices range from a $2 key chain with a picture of Elvis in a heart to $350 for a 20- to 24-inch vinyl Elvis doll clad in leather. Both of these items were issued after his death.

She said of the Elvis phenomenon: “It’s a sickness, really. It just keeps getting bigger and bigger. I think that’s because he was so talented.”

Deavers said her prized possessions are two photos taken by a drummer in Elvis’ band.

“One’s a head shot, and one’s a tush shot--oh, I just love that one,” she said.

She credits Priscilla Presley with keeping the legend of Elvis, and the collectibles market, alive.

“They were ready to give up Graceland as a loss,” Deavers said. “Priscilla came in and really turned things around.”

Deavers, 61, admitted she wasn’t always enamored of the King.

“I certainly wasn’t an Elvis fan in his heyday” in the late 1950s, Deavers said. “My kids were born in his era, but we didn’t listen to his albums or anything.”

Deavers did see Elvis once in concert, in Las Vegas in 1974.

“I went with a group of people--it wasn’t like it was my idea or anything,” she said. “He was fantastic.”

Where to Find Elvis

To order Elvis Presley commemorative stamps, call (800) 782-6724 or write U.S. Postal Service, P.O. Box 14328, St. Paul, Minn. 55114-0328.

Old Chicago Antique Mall, 8960 Knott Ave., Buena Park. (714) 527-0275. Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and Saturdays; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays; noon to 6 p.m. Sundays.

Sleepy Hollow Antique Mall, 12965 Main St., Garden Grove. (714) 539-9187. Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.