Forgotten Elvis photos found in the bottom of a drawer

Imagine cleaning out your drawers and finding a book of rare and long-forgotten photos of Elvis at the bottom!

That’s exactly what happened when someone was cleaning up at an elderly woman’s house recently.

The woman, known only as Frances, had worked as a hotel chambermaid in Germany when Elvis Presley was completing his military service.

She was reportedly a huge fan of the singer and had taken a number of candid photos of him when she was working in Bad Nauheim, where Elvis spent most of his two years’ national service.

There are 15 photos all up and six of them are signed by the King himself. There is even a photo of Frances and Elvis together.

Frances had long-forgotten about the photos and the scrapbook she made out of them and it wasn’t until a visitor was cleaning out her drawers that they were discovered dusty and hidden away at the bottom.

Norman Wilkinson, from Channel Islands Auctions, which is selling the photos, said: ‘The owner had been in Bad Nauheim on a school exchange visit and liked the place so much she decided to return the following year and work as a chambermaid for the summer holidays in 1959.

‘She was 18 at the time and a big Elvis fan, like every teenage girl was.

‘Having a well-known pop star in the army staying in the town was a big deal. Elvis was the centre of attention.

‘The young German lads were quite enterprising and used to take photos of him and sell them to people.

‘It was quite early on for cameras then and not everyone could afford them.

‘The seller bought some of these photos, there’s even one of her with Elvis, and six of them are signed on the back.

‘They’re not professional photos but some of them are one offs and have never been seen before.

‘The remarkable thing is it has just been lying in a drawer for years. The lady knew she had it but she’d forgotten all about it.

‘The scrapbook was just stuffed in a drawer in her lounge amongst other old papers and I found it as part of a routine evaluation. She hadn’t looked at it for years.
‘She’s had her enjoyment from it and wants to sell it now so someone else can cherish it.

‘Elvis died when he was only 42 and there’s only a certain amount of material out there – a lot of it is hard to come by now so something like this is bound to attract interest.’

Are you a fan of Elvis? What do you think about these photos? What’s your favourite Elvis song?