An original pair of Elvis Presley worn Grand Prix sunglasses sold for for €87,000 at an Propstore auction, this was more than the estimated €9.400 to €18.800.
This pair comes from one of Presley's closest friends and confidants, Charlie Hodge, who lived with him in Graceland. Presley can be seen wearing them during the recording of "Always On My Mind", which features in the Elvis On Tour documentary.
One of Presley's entourage bought these chrome plastic glasses at a gas station. The singer immediately loved them and wanted multiples, but finding more proved challenging, so he eventually had them copied by Hollywood glasses designer Dennis Roberts. He also had Roberts tweak the design by adding the "EP" in the bridge and the "TCB" (Taking Care of Business) on the arms. As Roberts' early designs were heavy and made of metal, Presley continued to wear this pair on an everyday basis. His teeth marks can be seen on the rubber temples.
Presley occasionally wore the glasses while practicing karate, saying that an assailant won't wait for him to remove them before attacking. Inevitably, the rims broke after a hit to the face and were repaired. This lot comes with a letter of authenticity from Hodge. Dimensions (rims): 16 cm x 5.5 cm (6.25" x 2.25")
(Source: ElvisMatters / Propstore)