June 17, 2007

Elvis Presley's pills, gun auctioned off

BEVERLY HILLS - A gold-plated gun and a pill bottle owned by Elvis Presley, an umbrella twirled by Marilyn Monroe and Alfred Hitchcock's passport were among items that attracted bidders at an auction Saturday.

The umbrella used by Monroe in a famous 1949 seaside photo shoot by Andre de Dienes sold for $42,000 at the annual Julien's Summer Auction, CEO Darren Julien said in a statement. The buyer, William Doyle, said he planned to display the umbrella at the Museum of Style Icons in County Kildare, Ireland.

Hitchcock's passport sold for $19,200 during the eight-hour auction at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

Presley's gun commanded $28,800, while a microphone used by the rock icon on the Louisiana Hayride in the 1950s sold for $15,000.

A prescription pill bottle belonging to Presley sold for $2,640.

"We'd planned to sell the bottle with the pills, but the Los Angeles Police Department told us it would be a federal crime to do it, so sad to say we had to remove the pills," Julien said before the auction.

The undated bottle was for the antihistamine and decongestant drug Naldecon, prescribed by George Nichopoulos, who was Presley's personal physician from 1970 until his death.

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