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Posted on Mon, Dec. 20, 2004
Can't help fallin'
for this: Elvis water
JENNIFER WING ROTHACKER
The Charlotte Observer
The oddball
auctions on the Web site eBay have taken a Carolina turn: a
40-year-old salesman from Belmont, is selling water he says Elvis
Presley drank from during a Charlotte concert in 1977, six months
before he died. Jones spoke with staff writer Jennifer Wing
Rothacker.
Q.
Describe your item.
It's a small
glass vial that has the remnants of the water that was in Elvis'
Styrofoam cup, if you can believe that. I'm totally serious. I've
been made fun about this since 1977.
Q. How did
you obtain this?
I was 13 at the
time; it was my birthday. I went with my mom to the Elvis concert
on Feb. 21, 1977, at the Charlotte Coliseum (now Cricket Arena).
... When Elvis gave his band introductions, he was drinking from a
foam cup. ... I had binoculars.
After the concert
was over, I told my mom I'm going to go up there and see if I can
get someone up there to give me a scarf (that Elvis would give out
to women during the show). (An officer on stage) said `No, can't
do that, it's property of the Elvis Presley show.' ... I saw the
cup Elvis drank out of, so I asked the policeman to give it to me.
I didn't say it was the one Elvis drank out of because he might
have kept for himself. It was three-quarters filled with water. It
had ice in it... crushed ice, not cubes
Q. How did
you know it was water?
I drank some.
Q. What
was your mother's reaction to this find?
She wasn't
overwhelmed.
Q. So you
wound up saving this cup -- with the water?
I knew if I left
it out (at home), it would evaporate, so I got some Saran wrap and
a rubber band.... I stuck it in the door of the freezer. It stayed
there from '77 until the mid-80s. Where I was moving didn't have a
deep freezer, so I thawed out the cup ... there is just a tiny
amount (of water) that's left.
That's when I
found a bottle for it. I got a plastic cork and with a hot glue
gun made a seal. ... I also have the Styrofoam cup in a glass
case.
Q.
Why
post it on eBay now?
(Recently on
eBay), someone sold a grilled cheese sandwich (with an image of
the Virgin Mary) for $28,000 and the cane of a ghost sold for
$65,000. ... This is a little more interesting and quirky. ... Of
all the Elvis collectibles you can buy, I'm sure I'm the only
person with water out of his concert drinking cup.
Q. Why
would anyone want to buy this?
I heard of one
lady who toured Graceland, went through the Jungle Room and found a toenail on the rug. Now, she
has a traveling Elvis toenail museum.
Q. How
much do you hope to make?
My minimum bid is
$100
Q. How can
you prove Elvis drank this water?
It's been a
mission of mine to go on the Internet and find a photo of Elvis
holding my cup. He only wore that suit two times in 1977 -- in Florida
two nights before and the night I saw him....
I've gotten quite
a few pictures of Elvis at that concert and beside him on the
stool are four Styrofoam cups. In one of the pictures, he's
holding my cup. He only drank from the one.
Of course, I
couldn't prove it, but it really is.
Q. You
have to admit, it sounds like a scam.
...I have almost
a 100 percent (positive) rating (as eBay seller).
Q. Does
the winning bid just get the water?
You get the photo
of him holding the cup, the glass vial of water and a statement
from me attesting that the water is from the 1977 concert.
Q. Are you
ever going to sell the Styrofoam cup?
No. I couldn't
sell it. It's locked up in a trunk. |
