Even obscure Elvis objects draw bids in auction’s second day

Sunday, Oct. 10, 1999 | 10:45 a.m.

The rather ordinary-looking television antenna was never meant to be sold, but when organizers of the Elvis Presley auction found it backstage they decided to put it on the block anyway.

The King's 8-foot, Christmas tree-shaped antenna, which was shipped by accident along with other items selected to weed out the collection at Graceland, sold Saturday for $1,725.

"It's a real piece of Graceland, not just some document," Sue Fergerstrom of Springfield, Mo., said, laughing. "And when he tries to contact me, I'll have better reception."

The three-day auction of thousands of Presley's belongings at the MGM Grand Hotel lasts until Sunday evening. It made its $1.4 million fundraising target Friday for a transitional housing project for homeless families in Memphis, said David Beckwith, a spokesman for Elvis Presley Enterprises.

Officials will decide later how to use the remaining money, he said, and will probably give it to local charities or use it to build more exhibit space.

Bidders showed the greatest interest in things The King used and owned, while documents - like Presley's first RCA contract - produced disappointing bids.

Other items at Saturday's auction, all dating from the 1960s, included a battery-operated Hamilton wristwatch that Presley owned, which went for $36,875; a rocking chair, which went for $19,550; and a plain humidor with a brass plaque, which went for $28,750.

Those prices include a 15 percent fee paid to the auction house, said Arlan Ettinger, president of Guernsey's, which is conducting the auction.

The "high point" of the evening was the antenna, which drew laughs even from the auctioneer.

"I was looking for something personal and really one-of-a-kind," Fergerstrom said. "I think I found it."

Fergerstrom said she has a wall in her house above a baby grand piano where she plans to mount the spindly prize.