"Fake" Elvis suits at London auction?

Just reading Charmaine's article about a new '68 exhibition at Graceland featuring the white IF I Can Dream suit.
I saw this being auctioned at the Paul Lichter Bonham's of London auction a few years ago, along with the gold lame '57 suit.
I realise now that both of these suits were very sadly probably fake.
I remember thinking the gold jacket looked "cheap" and the fabric was extremely flimsy looking. Similarly the 68 white suit did'nt look quite right. Then a couple of years later I visited Graceland for the first time and sure enough, they had the REAL DEAL gold lame on display in a glass chamber. As for the 68 suit I can't remember if I saw this at Graceland or the now defunct Elvis Museum Las Vegas.
It is grotesquely incompetent that these items were put up in a prestigious auction like the Bonhams one. I will not even speculate wether there was any concsious Fraud at work here.
Remember the Frank Skinner documentary where he was nearly in tears at the end because he discovered his 1956 blue velvet shirt he paid £6000 for at auction was a probable forgery?
Another item that springs to mind at the Bonhams auction (I won't call it the "Paul Lichter" auction because I don't want to appear I am accusing him of anything) was an obvious replica stage belt which was being passed off as genuine!!
And, get this- a SOFT, PLUSH, CUDDLY RCA Nipper dog toy which was being passed off as the one Elvis cavorted with o stage in 1957! When we all know this was a resin-plastic statuette of Nipper as the photos clearly show!!!

Hi Jasper,

Interesting thread.

Paul Litcher's reputation in the Elvis World is legendary for all the WRONG reasons.

Here is a guy who did actually meet Elvis and have his photo taken with him but has used this to rip Elvis fans off long before 1977.

He was regarded in the 70's as one of the world's biggest Elvis dealers and did sell some nice geniune Elvis items but then he just got greedy.

He claims to have been great friends with Elvis when really his photo with Elvis was just another fan photo.

When asked about Elvis' friendship with Paul Litcher, Joe Esposito said that Litcher was full of bull and is a complete liar.

On Litcher's website a few years ago he was selling UK vinyl as original releases when in fact they were 2nd or 3rd pressings.

In 2003, Litcher first sold autographs on Ebay even one claiming to be a signed colour photo of Elvis and Priscilla and they were exposed as fakes.

One of his biggest selling books, 'The Boy Who Dared To Rock' which was credited with its content when released in 1979, was later proved to have been ripped off from Ernest's 1977 publication 'Elvis' Recording Session's.

Regarding the 1997 Bonham's sale of Paul Litcher's 'genuine' Elvis items, it was proven that he committed fraud by selling personal Elvis items which were later proved to be fake.

Sadly,hundred's of fans have been ripped off by this man for over 30 years so if you ever think about buying items from his website, my advice would be .....DONT!!!!

J.R.TherealJasper wrote:

Just reading Charmaine's article about a new '68 exhibition at Graceland featuring the white IF I Can Dream suit.
I saw this being auctioned at the Paul Lichter Bonham's of London auction a few years ago, along with the gold lame '57 suit.
I realise now that both of these suits were very sadly probably fake.
I remember thinking the gold jacket looked "cheap" and the fabric was extremely flimsy looking. Similarly the 68 white suit did'nt look quite right. Then a couple of years later I visited Graceland for the first time and sure enough, they had the REAL DEAL gold lame on display in a glass chamber. As for the 68 suit I can't remember if I saw this at Graceland or the now defunct Elvis Museum Las Vegas.
It is grotesquely incompetent that these items were put up in a prestigious auction like the Bonhams one. I will not even speculate wether there was any concsious Fraud at work here.
Remember the Frank Skinner documentary where he was nearly in tears at the end because he discovered his 1956 blue velvet shirt he paid £6000 for at auction was a probable forgery?
Another item that springs to mind at the Bonhams auction (I won't call it the "Paul Lichter" auction because I don't want to appear I am accusing him of anything) was an obvious replica stage belt which was being passed off as genuine!!
And, get this- a SOFT, PLUSH, CUDDLY RCA Nipper dog toy which was being passed off as the one Elvis cavorted with o stage in 1957! When we all know this was a resin-plastic statuette of Nipper as the photos clearly show!!!

Here is what the Gold Lame Suit should look like.

This is Elvis in his Gold Lame suit from the Toronto concert in 1957




Charmaine

Its really upsetting that guys like that can get away with selling bogus Elvis items.
People who buy them are big Elvis fans and spend a lot of money to own the genuine article, if they wanted a replica they could go to loads of places and pay a hell of a lot less.
People like him should be stopped!

Hey Sean I forgot to mention the alleged "genuine" belt also had a completely removable buckle- with 4 poppers in each corner! Even the B&K concert belts have one end attached to the belt and the other end is a metal roller so the belt can be made bigger/smaller. I'm sure most/all of us one here would have spotted this belt as fake immediately.
Thanks for that Awesome photo, Charmaine. Even just a quick glance and I can see the garment in this photo screams "quality". The material looks thick, and there is something wonderful about the way it shimmers. The one I saw at Bonhams in Knightsbridge looked like it was made out of tin foil or something. Even my Mum who came with me-even though she is only a very casual fan, thought it was cheap looking.

Jasper,

Yeah i think Bonhams' were really embarrassed by that.

Their fault really.Should have done better research.

I remember seeing a clip on the TV when the auction was on and remember seeing that Litcher had Elvis' personal 5 Sun Singles which he claimed Elvis gave him.

Maybe Bonham's should have contacted EPE then they would have found that Elvis' personal 5 Sun singles were on display at Graceland.

J.R.TherealJasper wrote:

Hey Sean I forgot to mention the alleged "genuine" belt also had a completely removable buckle- with 4 poppers in each corner! Even the B&K concert belts have one end attached to the belt and the other end is a metal roller so the belt can be made bigger/smaller. I'm sure most/all of us one here would have spotted this belt as fake immediately.
Thanks for that Awesome photo, Charmaine. Even just a quick glance and I can see the garment in this photo screams "quality". The material looks thick, and there is something wonderful about the way it shimmers. The one I saw at Bonhams in Knightsbridge looked like it was made out of tin foil or something. Even my Mum who came with me-even though she is only a very casual fan, thought it was cheap looking.

You are most welcome JR, I am thrilled that I made you happy with this pic. This JR is the ORIGINAL GOLD LAME SUIT... pants, jack and shirt along with the gold shoes... and etc..

Hugs Charmaine