Music

Tools used in Elvis Presley's autopsy to be auctioned

by Ciaran Thompson

In what The Guardian calls “the grisliest sale in rock’n’roll history,” the tools used during Elvis Presley’s autopsy, which include forceps, rubber gloves and aneurysm hooks, will go up for auction next month.

Mary Williams, a spokeswoman for Leslie Hindman Auctioneers said a senior embalmer set the said items aside after the King’s funeral in 1977 and waited for the opportune time to sell them.

“The mortician, who prepared the body, retained this tag and the instruments, along with the preparation room case report, the case sheet, dry cleaning tags, the hanger to the singer’s suit and tie, and the coffin shipping invoice, which are marked ‘Elvis Presley,'” Williams told Reuters.

Apparently all the tools – lip brushes, needle injectors and an arterial tube – were only used once on Presely’s body and will be sold in two lots expecting to cash in between $10,000 to $14,000. Last year a lock of Presley’s hair sold for $18,300. “It’s really about owning a piece of the celebrity themselves,” Williams said, “and how much closer can you get than the actual embalming instruments?”