Additional information about this lot: Recently, Hal Lansky was asked about the offered tie, and he identified it immediately. See his email pictured here, at left!
Much of Elvis' fashionable wardrobe was purchased at Lansky Brothers in Memphis. Lansky outfitted Elvis for years, including for his first television appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1956. Offered is a pink necktie with black squiggle design around a straight blue line embroidered on the front. While the tie has been dated, roughly, to the 1950's, a number of photos of Elvis backstage at Ellis Auditorium at the "Holiday on Ice" show on March 9, 1962, show Elvis wearing a tie that looks very similar to the offered example. The distinct dark threaded pattern is in the same location as on the offered tie and the weave of the tie seems to be similar. Modern copies of one of the photos is included with the tie. As an aside, Elvis met performers from the skating show while in the Army in Germany, and he made a point for several years to catch the show when it came through Memphis. He even entertained the show's cast at Graceland on one occasion. This stylish pink tie comes with a notarized letter from Richard Davis that reads:
I Richard Davis was a member of the Elvis Memphis Mafia. I started working for Elvis in 1962 and worked for him until 1971. I was a bodyguard and eventually became Elvis’ wardrobe manager. I was also a stand-in in 23 Elvis movies. After Elvis died, I went to Graceland to help Vernon Presley organize some of Elvis’ clothing and personal belongings. Vernon wanted to go in the attic and look for some acetates of unreleased recordings of Elvis. I started looking through boxes of keepsakes and personal belongings that were stored in the attic. I opened a box and found some clothes, ties and belts. It appeared these clothes were in the attic for a while. In this box was [sic] 3 Pink Ties with a Black squiggle design with a blue line. Vernon told me these Ties came from Lanksy Brothers on Beale Street in Downtown Memphis. A lot of times Elvis usually bought 2 of the same clothing. Pink and Black were Elvis’ favorite colors. Vernon Presley gave me this tie as a gift. I took this Tie to the Binsingers cleaners in the late 1970’s in Memphis. This Pink and Black Tie still has the cleaning tag on it.
The letter is signed and dated 3-8-00 by Davis and notarized on the same date by Shelby County, Tennessee notary Tiffanie R. Jackson. The dry-cleaning tag and paper tie holder accompany the tie. The tie measures 53 inches in length (134.62 cm) and is accompanied by a letter of authenticity from Graceland Authenticated (most of above text is quoted from this LOA). The tie presents with no major defects, perhaps a slight age-related toning. Near Mint condition.