Man Sells Elvis Collection to Win Girl

James Joyner · Monday, January 9, 2006 · 11 comments

Jim Curtin has sold off his Elvis collection to win back his girlfriend.

Hundreds of pieces of Elvis Presley memorabilia were auctioned off over the weekend by a longtime collector trying to win back his girlfriend after she warned: “You leave the Elvis clothes or I’ll leave you.”

The items auctioned included three Elvis concert suits, two of which sold for $125,000 and $50,000, said Alan Lipkin, senior vice president of Regency-Superior, which organized the online auction. The third was still on the auction block. Also sold were necklaces Elvis gave to girlfriends and friends, cufflinks he received from President Nixon and belt buckles he wore, Lipkin said.

The seller, Jim Curtin, collected 600 cartons of Elvis memorabilia for more than 30 years and met the star several times. His unrelenting adoration eventually got the attention of Elvis, who personally presented Curtin with a white jumpsuit he wore in a Houston concert in 1974, according to the Regency Web site.

So why give up the lifetime collection? “He’s doing this to try to win back his girlfriend,” said Lipkin.

My guess is that he’ll regret this decision even if he gets the girl. Indeed, especially if he gets the girl.

I’ve never met Curtin but it’s quite possible that his Elvis fixation was obsessive. On the other hand, he’s apparently derived decades of pleasure from it. It is, for good and ill, a major part of who his is. Any woman who would demand he give it up is by definition incompatible with him.

Comments

Rodney Dill says:

Monday, 9 January 2006 at 09:39

Would’ve been easier to find a girl that liked Elvis, especially considering the memorabilia.
lunacy says:

Monday, 9 January 2006 at 11:17

The girl is a fool. She should either accept him as he is or move on.

He will probably grow to resent her ultimatum.

She has “fouled her own nest”.
Elmo says:

Monday, 9 January 2006 at 11:30

Love springs eternal. Yeah, possible he was a lil OCD about the collection/collecting. And just woke up a little bit, and maybe even with a little push from his heart’s affection. Suggesting to him a little life unbalanced?

It’s only ‘stuff’ after all (as much as I get a buzz off of vintage toy trains). I say good on ’em. Whether he gets the girl or not. He’s trying. He sees light, he feels warmth.

Less really can be more.

Elmo, President/Socialist Bloggers Collective [and no, you can’t have my phonograph LP collection :-)]
Scott Ferguson says:

Monday, 9 January 2006 at 11:46

It is, for good and ill, a major part of who he is.

Poor guy.
ICallMasICM says:

Monday, 9 January 2006 at 11:59

What an idiot – and on the King’s birthday no less.
John Burgess says:

Monday, 9 January 2006 at 12:36

Just watched “Fever Pitch” yesterday, a film about a Red Sox fan who was willing to give up season tickets along the third base line for love.

In the end, the girl let him keep them…
Jonk says:

Monday, 9 January 2006 at 12:37

TCB! Uu-Uuhhh-huh!
Mark says:

Monday, 9 January 2006 at 12:41

What the article does not say is that the girlfriend’s new boyfriend is an avid collector of Sinatra memorabilia. She just prefers Old Blue Eyes to Blue Suade Shoes I guess…
LJD says:

Monday, 9 January 2006 at 12:55

Guy: Spinless nerd.
Girl: Goldigging (female dog)

What a great match, they’ll live unhappily ever after.
Hoodlumman says:

Monday, 9 January 2006 at 14:40

Not only did he have to sell off his beloved collection of all-things Elvis, his girlfriend/wife-to-be will get 50% of the massive scratch it sold for after their impending divorce.
James Joyner says:

Monday, 9 January 2006 at 14:47

Actually, California is a “equitable property” state so he’d get to keep assets he brought into the marriage.

California is a “equitable property” state. This means that all marital property acquired during the marriage should be divided equally. The “marital” property, consisting of any other property acquired by either spouse during the marriage, will be divided equally, unless the court finds that equal division would be unjust. Any property possessed by either spouse during the marriage is presumed to be marital property unless it can be shown that the property is actually separate property. A court can determine the rights of the spouses in any pension or retirement plan or their rights under any insurance policy.
How is property divided at divorce?

It is common for a divorcing couple to decide about dividing their property and debts themselves, rather than leave it to the judge. But if a couple cannot agree, they can submit their property dispute to the court, which will use state law to divide the property.

Division of property does not necessarily mean a physical division. Rather, the court awards each spouse a percentage of the total value of the property. (It is illegal for either spouse to hide assets in order to shield them from property division.) Each spouse gets items whose worth adds up to his or her percentage.

Courts divide property under one of two schemes: equitable distribution or community property. Maryland is an “equitable distribution” state, so the Court will adhere, as closely as possible to the following principle.

* Equitable distribution. Assets and earnings accumulated during marriage are divided equitably (fairly). In practice, often two-thirds of the assets go to the higher wage earner and one-third to the other spouse.

How do we distinguish between marital and non-marital property?

Very generally, here are the rules for determining what’s Marital property and what isn’t:

* Marital property includes all earnings during marriage and everything acquired with those earnings. All debts incurred during marriage, unless the creditor was specifically looking to the separate property of one spouse for payment, are marital property debts.
* Non-marital property of one spouse includes gifts and inheritances given just to that spouse, personal injury awards received by that spouse, and the proceeds of a pension that vested (that is, the pensioner became legally entitled to receive it) before marriage. Property purchased with the separate funds of a spouse remain that spouse’s separate property. A business owned by one spouse before the marriage remains his or her separate property during the marriage, although a portion of it may be considered Marital property if the business increased in value during the marriage or both spouses worked at it.
* Property purchased with a combination of separate and marital funds is part marital and part non-marital property, so long as a spouse is able to show that some separate funds were used. Non-marital property mixed together with marital property generally becomes marital property.