A pair of blue suede shoes worn by Elvis Presley himself has sold for a huge amount at auction.
The shoes sold for £120,000 by auctioneers Henry Aldrige & Son in Devizes on June 28 – at the top end of the £100,000-£120,000 they were expected to go for.
Presley first acquired the shoes after he performed the Carl Perkins hit ‘Blue Suede Shoes’, and wore the shoes for various interviews and public appearances throughout the 1950s, most notably on The Steve Allen Show in the US, on which he performed ‘Hound Dog’.
When he was drafted into the US Army in the late 1950s, Presley gave the shoes to a friend.
As auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said, the shoes are what “you think of immediately when you talk about Elvis Presley” and they “transcend popular culture.”
He added: “When Elvis joined up for the American army, he had a get-together at Graceland. Elvis called some of these people upstairs and was giving away some of the clothes he didn’t think he’d need or want when he came back from the army. The gentleman concerned was Alan Fortas, Elvis’s branch manager and a friend of his.”
Over the years, the shoes had spent time on display at various museums. Aldrige said that their authenticity had been verified by singer Jimmy Velvet, who was a close friend of Presley and himself used to run a museum of Elvis memorabilia.
In May, Presley’s granddaughter Riley Keough took legal action to prevent the auction of Graceland, the singer’s iconic home, and a judge stopped the sale. Later, a self-described scammer based in Nigeria took credit for the plot, saying that he was part of an identity theft ring.
Meanwhile, Glastonbury co-founder Michael Eavis opened this year’s festival last Thursday (June 27) with a few songs, and finished with Presley’s 1969 hit Suspicious Minds.
Back in April of this year, it was reported that two of 6ix9ine's vehicles were seized due to alleged "nonpayment of internal revenue taxes." The vehicles included a Lamborghini Urus and a Bentley Continental GTC, which are both decorated with rainbow paint splatters. Of course, their unique design made them pretty tough to miss, and photos of them at a facility were quick to turn up online. Shortly after, it was revealed that his entire Florida home had actually been raided, and that authorities took several more of his belongings too.
At the time, 6ix9ine was in the Dominican Republic sorting out some other legal issues. Late last month, he returned to the U.S., though it's unclear whether or not he plans to stay. What is clear, however, is that he's unlikely to get his cars back. According to No Jumper, they're currently up for auction on a government website.
Bidding is set to begin tomorrow (July 8), and each of the vehicles has a starting bid of $20K, which is expected to increase quickly once bids start to roll in. Based on photos from the site, one of the vehicles still has what appears to be a bullet hole in his driver side window, which sparked some concern and speculation shortly after it was confiscated. At the time of writing, it still remains unclear exactly when and how that happened.
6ix9ine has yet to comment on the seizure of his vehicles, or the upcoming auction. What do you think of 6ix9ine's vehicles showing up on a government auction site? What about them being confiscated due to his alleged failure to pay taxes? How much to you think they'll end up being auctioned off for? Share your thoughts in the comments section down below, and keep an eye on HNHH for more updates.
