To most people, the letters TCB are instantly connected with Elvis Presley.
But in the early 1970s, seeing that lightning-bolt necklace around someone’s neck could mean something much more personal.
It could mean Elvis had given it to them himself.
TCB stood for “Taking Care of Business in a Flash,” the motto Elvis used for the way he wanted things handled around him.
According to Graceland, Elvis and Priscilla developed the famous TCB lightning-bolt design after seeing lightning during a flight back to Memphis. Elvis became so attached to the symbol that he had gold pendants made for members of his entourage.
But he did not hand them out casually.
Graceland says very few people received original TCB necklaces, describing the recipients as close members of Elvis’s entourage or very close friends.
That is what makes surviving necklaces so interesting.
Each one can lead to a completely different Elvis story.
One of the earliest documented examples belonged to Gerald Frazzini, a Denver police officer who also worked as personal security for Elvis.
Frazzini later said his pendant was among the first dozen Elvis distributed around 1970. According to the provenance attached to the necklace, Joe Esposito and Red West were among the select people receiving early examples as well.
Then there was Elvis’s own father.
A genuine 14-karat TCB pendant later sold through Christie’s with documentation stating that Elvis gave it to Vernon Presley during his 1975 concert at the Pontiac Silverdome in Michigan.
That was not just an employee receiving Elvis merchandise.
It was a son placing his personal symbol around his father’s neck.
Elvis’s Jeweler Explains What Receiving a TCB Necklace Really Meant
Perhaps nobody explained the emotional meaning better than Lowell Hays, Elvis’s longtime jeweler.
Hays began making the TCB and related TLC necklaces for Elvis after meeting him in the late 1960s. In 1971, Elvis even sent a Learjet to bring Hays to Las Vegas so they could refine details of the pendant’s design.
Eventually, Elvis decided Hays deserved one himself.
Hays remembered Elvis sitting on the floor playing guitar before calling him over and telling him it was time he had one.
Elvis then placed the necklace around his neck.
Hays later said receiving it felt almost like being knighted.
To him, that necklace meant one thing:
He was officially part of Elvis’s group.
That explains why original TCB necklaces carry so much fascination today.
They were jewelry, but they were also personal markers.
Joe Esposito’s could lead into the story of Elvis’s road manager.
Red West’s opens the complicated history of Elvis and one of his oldest friends.
Vernon’s tells a father-and-son story.
Lowell Hays’s leads into Elvis’s love of extravagant jewelry and gift-giving.
And Frazzini’s tells how even someone outside the traditional Memphis circle could earn Elvis’s trust.
To receive a TCB necklace from Elvis Presley was not simply to own a piece of gold. It meant Elvis had decided you belonged close enough to wear his personal symbol.