A piano once owned by Elvis Presley has sold in a charity auction on eBay for $375,000.
The white grand piano had originally been the centrepiece of Elvis’ music room at Graceland, and was sold to raise funds for the Starkey Hearing Foundation which helps provide hearing aids around the world.
The final price of $375,190 makes it the second most valuable piece of Elvis music memorabilia ever sold.
The record is currently held by another of Elvis’ pianos, covered in gold leaf, which sold at Julien’s Auctions in 2015 for $600,000.
The white piano had originally stood on stage at the Ellis Auditorium in Memphis where, as a young boy, Elvis used to sneak in and stand at the back watching gospel singers and revival shows.
The auditorium also played host to legendary performers including Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Cab Calloway, all of whom are believed to have played the piano as they passed through town in the 1930s and 40s.
The auditorium was remodelled in 1957, by which time Elvis was a star in his own right – having released a string of hits and caused an uproar on national television with his dangerously gyrating hips.
But despite his new-found wealth and status, he still remembered his roots – and when the piano that had inspired him as a child came up for sale, he snapped it up straight away.
For more than a decade it took pride of place in Graceland, and Elvis posed for numerous photographs with the piano in 1965, during the only time he ever invited press photographers into his home.
In 1968 the piano was finally replaced, when Priscilla Presley gifted her husband a piano covered in gold leaf to celebrate their first wedding anniversary.
The white piano was then placed into storage until 1976, when Elvis’ father Vernon sold it to local music studio, where it was used to record albums by the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis.
It finally sold on eBay on August 20, after spending more than 20 years in the hands of a private collector.
