Elvis Presley loved jewelry.
Big rings. Diamonds. Rubies. Emeralds. Gold chains.
His collection became so extensive that decades later it inspired an entire three-volume series devoted to documenting his rings, their history and where many of them eventually ended up.
But there was something unusual about Elvis’s relationship with expensive jewelry.
Keeping it was not always the point.
His longtime jeweler Lowell Hays remembered Elvis regularly buying pieces not for himself, but for family, friends and people he happened to meet.
Hays said Elvis even required him to bring a case full of jewelry when traveling on tour because Elvis never knew when he might suddenly decide to give something away.
Sometimes that happened in the middle of a concert.
At one show in Asheville, Elvis reached into Hays’s jewelry case, selected a ring and handed it directly to a young woman standing near the stage.
The audience erupted.
Afterward, Elvis joked to Hays that he would simply have to sing a little longer the next night to pay for the jewelry.
Elvis’s Jeweler Remembers Him Giving Jewelry to Fans
Hays also remembered Elvis giving jewelry to people who had no connection to fame or his inner circle.
During one tour stop, Elvis reportedly visited a seriously ill young boy in a hospital and gave him a gold garnet cross that Hays had originally made for Elvis himself.
Other people around Elvis remembered the same behavior.
Singer Myrna Smith of the Sweet Inspirations said Elvis regularly gave the group jewelry, including large rings, and that his generosity extended to people he did not even know.
Keyboard player Tony Brown also remembered receiving a ring from Elvis and seeing him hand jewelry directly to audience members during concerts. Brown later said Elvis gave things away simply because doing it made him feel good.
That makes Elvis’s enormous collection particularly interesting.
Some pieces were spectacular.
His famous TCB ring, created by Hays, featured an 11.5-carat central diamond surrounded by additional diamonds forming the lightning-bolt design. Hays remembered Elvis becoming incredibly excited when he first saw it.
Elvis clearly enjoyed owning beautiful things.
But he also seemed to enjoy the moment when something expensive suddenly stopped belonging to him.
A ring might be purchased for Elvis one day and end up on a friend’s finger, with a fan in the front row or in the hands of someone he had only just met.
That may be the most revealing part of his jewelry collection.
Elvis accumulated enough rings to fill three books, but some of the most memorable pieces became famous because he gave them away.