The auctions with Elvis memorabilia are following each other in a fast tempo. The renovated American auction house Heritage Auctions organises several auctions each year with large lots of entertainment memorabilia. On November 5, 45 Elvis related items will be offered for auction. There are no real big eay catchers this time. The item with the highest estimated value is a diamond ring Elvis gave to his girlfriend Ginger Alden. According to Ginger, it is her engagement ring. Elvis entourage denies this, because he would have no plans to ask Ginger to marry him. Despite this, it still is a beautiful piece of jewelry, with an estimated value of $30,000 (€20.000).
Despite Ginger's claim, it appears the ring being offered for sale is not what is claimed. On the picture, you can see the ring that is in the auction (on the right) and the engagement ring (on the left).
The story behind the ring:
About 1 o'clock in the morning the phone rang...it was Elvis. It was very unusual for him to call me that late. He said, "Lowell, I need an engagement ring. I want to give Ginger Alden an engagement ring tonight." He said, "I want a diamond exactly like the one in the middle of my TCB ring." I was still half-asleep and I told him, "I don’t have one and nobody else is going to have one either." He argued with me for a while and then he said, "Well I’ll find one somewhere else." Then he hung up. I went back to sleep. About 30 minutes later the phone rang again. It was Elvis again. He said, "Lowell, you've got to have a ring tonight for Ginger. What am I going to do?" I said, "Well, I can make a phone call or two to New York. That's the only place I know to find a diamond that size." I told him if I could find one, we could take the jet to New York and bring the diamond back here. He said that would be great. "Let's see if we can do it". So I called a couple of diamond dealers I knew in New York. I woke them up in the middle of the night, told them the dilemma, and both of them said there is no way a diamond of that size is not going to be in a vault. The vaults are all on timers in banks and there is no way we can get a diamond that size. So I called him back and told him the bad news, and I think he accepted it.
I was laying there thinking about what he wanted. Was there any other way I could think of to do it? It dawned on me that if he wanted a diamond just like the one in the TCB ring, why don’t we use that diamond tonight and replace the diamond in the TCB ring next week before he goes on his next tour. So I called him back and told him of the new idea to get Ginger her ring. Well, it was just exactly what he wanted. So I drove to Graceland, picked up the TCB ring, and went back to my jewelry shop. I sat down, removed it from the TCB ring, and made a mounting to fit it with three diamonds on each side. I set the big diamond in the center of it, sized it to Ginger’s finger, and then drove back to Graceland with it. I got there just after daylight. On January 26th, he gave Ginger the ring, and then on January 28th he bought additional jewelry for her to complete her engagement gifts.