Elvis had me make a waist chain for Linda Thompson with sawed out letters that said, “My love, my life” and then a chain that went around her waist. We brought her to the store and put a piece of asbestos between her body and the chain and welded it on her where she couldn’t take it off.
Elvis liked colored stones. Sapphires were his favorite, and he liked rubies and emeralds. So I sold a lot of rings that had colored stones in them, a lot of different shapes and styles. He would always buy sapphire rings. Elvis bought a big garnet cross from me. He had it with him when we were in Jackson, Mississippi, and someone told him about a little boy who was dying. It was a Make-A-Wish thing, and he wanted to see Elvis. So, Elvis said, “Great” and they loaded the limo and went to the hospital where the little boy was staying. Elvis visited with him and gave him that cross. I heard later that someone auctioned that cross or sold it for a lot of money.
I delivered the big cross necklace, which is on display at Graceland, to Linda Thompson on December the 20th, 1973. Linda had drawn a sketch of the pendant the way she wanted it made, set with diamonds in the arms of the Cross, and then it was to have two hearts which were touching at the points with a circle around them like an eternity band. The hearts were set with Elvis’s birthstone and Linda’s birthstone. Again, this piece was totally hand-made and hand-set. The base of the pendant was white gold, the border of the cross was trimmed in yellow gold, and the wedding band that circles the two hearts is yellow. It was a very beautiful showpiece, and Elvis wore it proudly on all tours and all performances that he did.
Another piece of jewelry that I made for Elvis was the tube bracelet. It was a rope chain with a piece of tubing in the center and a box catch in the back. We would usually engrave the person’s name on the front, like Lowell or Dr. Nick or Joe, but on the back we would always put their nickname or some little saying or something that Elvis called them. Those were very personal bracelets and usually only members of the entourage got those bracelets.
There are many of other pieces of jewelry I made for Elvis. Now that I have closed my retail location, I am going to have time to reproduce many of the pieces. Watch for new pieces!