Collection of 22 Elvis Presley Clothing Swatches from His 1971 LP Elvis: The Other Sides - Worldwide Gold Award Hits Vol. 2

Offered is a collection of 22 clothing swatches cut from the personal clothing of Elvis Presley and included with copies of his 1971 compilation LP Elvis: The Other Sides -  Worldwide Gold Award Hits Vol. 2. For the initial run of the album's release, one of these swatches was included in its custom, pictorial envelope promising "Something from ELVIS' wardrobe for you." Colonel Tom Parker was always looking for new promotional items to drive sales, and with the offered swatches, he essentially invented what is the predecessor to the modern "chase card," those cards put into trading card sets that have autographs, pieces of baseball bats and swatches of players' uniforms. The Colonel had 100s of pieces of clothing sent to RCA with strict instructions describing how they were to be cut up. The promotion was a huge success, especially for an album that contained mostly "b-sides" of previous singles and no new material. To our knowledge, this is the single largest group of these 1971 premiums ever assembled and offered at auction. The swatches each measures 3 x 2 inches, and the original envelopes each measure 5 3/8 x 3 3/8 inches. With the exception of some very mild age-related toning to the envelopes, all pieces are in stunning Near Mint to Mint condition.