If you're an Elvis fan and have a strong stomach, mark your calendar for Aug. 12, when Chicago's Leslie Hindman Auctioneers will auction autopsy instruments used to embalm and prepare the King's body for a private viewing the morning after his death.
The senior embalmer at the Memphis Funeral Home at the time of Presley's death saved the items for the last 33 years and decided to sell them after he realized someone might value them, said Mary Williams, director of books and manuscripts for Leslie Hindman Auctioneers. Presley died Aug. 16, 1977, in the bathroom of his Graceland estate of an irregular heartbeat.
to be sold at auction by Leslie Hindman Auctioneers on Aug. 12.
The items up for auction include a comb, forceps, rubber gloves, eye liner, needle injectors, an arterial tube and aneurysm hooks. They were used only once -- to embalm Elvis' body, apply makeup to his face, and dye his graying hair to the jet-black color his fans knew.
The collection also includes a toe tag marked "John Doe," used after an eager fan stole the original from Presley's body during the chaos at the hospital where he was taken, as well as the coffin shipping invoice and the hanger to Presley's suit and tie.
The auction starts at noon with rare books, and the Elvis memorabilia will follow, at Leslie Hindman Auctioneers, 1338 W. Lake St.
The items will be offered in two lots valued at up to $6,000 and $8,000 each.
An auction in October 2009 resulted in a clump of Elvis' hair going for $15,000; a red ultrasuede shirt worn by Elvis in publicity photos garnering a $34,000 bid, and an inscribed record sleeve selling for $10,370.
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