The auction will take place beginning at 11 a.m. Sunday at Ahlers & Ogletree, 715 Miami Circle, Suite 210, Atlanta. Bidders can participate by telephone and online. For information: 404-869-2478; www.AandOauctions.com.
Two years before the Beatles went to India to meet the Maharishi and made meditation a trendy item, Elvis Presley studied in 1965 at the Self-Realization Fellowship in Los Angeles, created by Paramahansa Yogananda, author of “Autobiography of a Yogi.”
Besides any improved insight he may have gained, the King came away from his experience with a “spirit” ring — perhaps a present from Sri Daya Mata or “Ma,” who ran Yogananda’s organization in the U.S. Ma and Elvis remained friends for years.
Unlike other Elvis rings, his spirit ring, which he eventually gave to bodyguard Sam Thompson, was understated in design, featuring a purplish star ruby of five carats or so and tiny diamonds.
The ring briefly graced the hand of an Atlanta rock ’n’ roll entrepreneur, and is going on the auction block Sunday at Ahlers & Ogletree in Buckhead. “Elvis removed the ring from his finger at end of his final Vegas engagement in December, 1976, and gave it to Sam as part of his tour bonus,” said the ring’s current owner, who asked to remain unidentified.
Standing in his Miami Circle showroom in front of a wall of Beatles photographs, which are also up for sale, auction house owner Robert Ahlers explained the popularity of rock memorabilia, saying “the baby boomers are aging, and now they have the means.”
Want to wear the “spirit” of Elvis? Estimated price: $10,000-$20,000.
About 600 lots will be auctioned Sunday, including paintings, furniture, rugs, silver, porcelain and artwork.
Other items in the catalog:
• Former Beatle George Harrison’s tenor banjo. This is a four-string instrument, the kind used in Irish traditional music and traditional jazz.
• A lifesize bronze sculpture by Mexican artist Salmones of a very flexible trapeze artist who is nude and draped over a bar. “This might be a little risque,” Ahlers said.
• A 36-star Civil War-era flag made for the U.S. Army by Tiffany & Co.
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