Auctions

GENUFLECT and then reach for your wallet. Here come the relics, Elvis's first. What kind do you prefer: official/respectable or unofficial/tacky? The world's biggest private collection of officially approved Elvis memorabilia, to be auctioned at the Las Vegas Hilton, 18 and 19 June, is on show at Bonhams tomorrow (11am-4pm) until Wednesday (weekdays 8.45am-6pm). The unofficial stuff comes next month.

Bonhams will display Elvis respectabilia such as his blue stage jumpsuit (dollars 25,000-dollars 50,000) collected by his teenage friend, Fifties pop singer Jimmy Velvet, whose Elvis Presley Museum Inc is licensed by Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc - which would have you know that the name, likeness and image of Elvis Presley belongs to his estate and that any unauthorised use of the above may result in legal action.

Yawn. The unofficial/tacky relics, collected, wart and all, by the artist Joni Mabe, will be on show at the Royal Festival Hall Galleries, 23 July-29 August. Mabe (pronounced maybe) tours studiously tacky exhibitions of Elvisiana. She got the wart from Elvis's right hand while Elvis Inc got the wedding ring from his left hand (dollars 50,000-dollars 75,000). Also unwanted by Elvis Inc: Mabe's vial of Elvis sweat and an Elvis toenail from the floor of Graceland, his home. Her own high-camp art is authentic Elvis-obsessive stuff: a collaged letter by a fan describing seduction by an extra-terrestrial Elvis look-alike says: 'I'm carrying your child. Please send money.'

Another showbiz relic: Madonna's conical bra - pounds 8,000- pounds 10,000, at Christie's South Kensington's pop sale, Thursday (10.30am). Its documentation says it was found abandoned after her 1990 Barcelona concert and that she gave it to the finder 'with pleasure'. Jean Paul Gaultier kindly note.

DISPUTING RASPUTIN

More than 500 pages of depositions submitted to a Russian government inquiry into Rasputin, the sinister monk who gained the confidence of Tsar Nicholas II and his family, contain allegations such as: 'That which (his female admirers) took for a command of the Holy Spirit was plain depravity. Rasputin made them do everything he wanted.' Est pounds 4,000- pounds 5,000 at Sotheby's manuscript and music sale, Thursday (10.30am).

BEST OF THE REST

In aid of the Musicians' Benevolent Fund: music manuscripts, letters, memorabilia: Phillips, Wednesday (6pm).

COUNTRYWIDE

Mere Hall, Knutsford: On-site contents of 577 lots of grand tour relics, mementoes of the Langford-Brooke family, fox heads, fishing tackle, furniture and some serious art, Monday (10.30am). Christie's (0565 830780).

Friston: On-site contents of Blackheath Mansion. More grand tour relics, furniture, artworks and a diamond tiara ( pounds 25,000- pounds 30,000), Tuesday (11am). Phillips (0473-255137).

Penrith: On-site contents of the Penrith Steam Museum, Penrith New Mart, Skirsgill, Wednesday (9.30am). Penrith Farmers & Kidd (0768 62135).

Leyburn: Big collection of scales and measures, ivory slide rules, apothecary equipment, verified tavern ware, Tuesday (10am). Tennants, Harmby Road (0906 23780).

Billingshurst: Seasonal garden statuary, furniture, Tuesday (10.30am). Sotheby's, Summers Place (0403 783933).

Woburn Sands: Warehouse equipment, wines and spirits, engineering tools, toys (including Corgi, Matchbox), jewellery, car phones, vehicles, Wednesday (10am): St Mary's Church Hall, Apsley Hill. Hawberry King (081-343 7373).

Dumfries: Shotguns, collectables and prints, Monday (6pm), followed Tuesday by furniture, pottery, oil lamps, carpets (10.30am) and 110 fishing reels, 150 lots of fishing accessories (6pm), at Crichton Royal Hospital. Thomson, Roddick & Laurie (0387 55366).

Godalming: Viscount Montgomery's flying jacket, pounds 300- pounds 400, Wednesday (10.30am). Hamptons, 93 High Street (0483 423567).

Dublin: Coins, banknotes at Buswells Hotel, Molesworth Street, Friday (7pm). Peter Sheen (010 3531 496 4390).

FAIRS

Royal Welsh International Antique and Collectors: Royal Welsh Showground, Builth Wells, Powys, today and tomorrow (IACF; 0636 702326).

Irish International Coin, Stamp and Collectables: next Saturday and Sunday, Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, Dublin. Peter Sheen (010 3531 496 4390).

Countrywide: Antiques Trade Gazette (071- 930 4957) and Government Auction News (071-928 9001, hotline 0891 887700).

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