Elvis strums a guitar with a replica of the record player he gifted to Ellen Marschhäuser in the background.
A record player belonging to the Elvis Presley is set to be auctioned in Penzance next month. The record player, a Perpetuum Ebner Musical 5v Luxus, belonged to Elvis while he was stationed in Germany during the early part of his Army Service in 1958-59. It is set to be sold by David Lay at his Penzance Auction House on December 12th 2013 and could fetch anything up to £2,000.
Elvis had gifted the record player to a German woman, Ellen Marschhäuser, who lived in Bad Nauheim. In early 1959 the woman had helped Presley's father, Vernon, with some German translation and Mr Presley Senior invited her to the Presley apartment in the Hotel Grunewald as a thank you. She visited the apartment a couple of times and spoke at length with Elvis. On one occasion there was a party when Elvis played records on the 5v Luxus and also played his guitar through the amplifier of the record player. Soon after Ellen moved to London to marry her English fiancé, Jim Jenkins, taking the record player with her.
Mr Jenkins said: "We used and enjoyed the record player for a number of years until it developed a fault with the needle which I never got around to mending.
"We retired and moved to Cornwall in 1989. I put the record player in our loft where it remained forgotten until we saw a picture of Elvis with an identical record player in the Daily Mail. Had I not seen that picture I would have eventually thrown it away."
Mr Lay said: "This is an incredibly rare collector's item with a wonderful history. "It is well documented that Elvis was extremely generous to his family, entourage and fans. Although it was an expensive item in 1959 it is not entirely surprising that he would make a gift of it to an attractive and engaging woman who had helped his father."
sources: Collectors Weekly
Elvis Matters - http://www.elvismatters.com
Elvis had gifted the record player to a German woman, Ellen Marschhäuser, who lived in Bad Nauheim. In early 1959 the woman had helped Presley's father, Vernon, with some German translation and Mr Presley Senior invited her to the Presley apartment in the Hotel Grunewald as a thank you. She visited the apartment a couple of times and spoke at length with Elvis. On one occasion there was a party when Elvis played records on the 5v Luxus and also played his guitar through the amplifier of the record player. Soon after Ellen moved to London to marry her English fiancé, Jim Jenkins, taking the record player with her.
Mr Jenkins said: "We used and enjoyed the record player for a number of years until it developed a fault with the needle which I never got around to mending.
"We retired and moved to Cornwall in 1989. I put the record player in our loft where it remained forgotten until we saw a picture of Elvis with an identical record player in the Daily Mail. Had I not seen that picture I would have eventually thrown it away."
Mr Lay said: "This is an incredibly rare collector's item with a wonderful history. "It is well documented that Elvis was extremely generous to his family, entourage and fans. Although it was an expensive item in 1959 it is not entirely surprising that he would make a gift of it to an attractive and engaging woman who had helped his father."
sources: Collectors Weekly
Elvis Matters - http://www.elvismatters.com
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