Blagojevich’s Elvis Statue and Storage Auctioned Off

A couple weeks ago I blogged that former Illinois governor Rob Blagojevich’s storage unit, which included a 6-foot Elvis Presley statue, would be auctioned off in Arlington Heights, Illinois. So how much for the King? The Elvis statue went for $20,500 and Blagojevich’s storage raised about $30,000, which was donated to the Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago. The items and boxes were auctioned off individually, which is different from most storage auctions that auction off entire units. The $30,000 for the contents of just one storage unit is a ridiculous amount, considering storage auction specialist Glendon Cameron told me earlier this month that the most he’s ever paid was $6,200. Some of the auction attendees just wanted Blagojevich memorabilia and others were trying to help document history. Jeffrey Garrett, an associate librarian at Northwestern University, purchased more than a dozen boxes and plans to preserve the important documents. Keith Rich, who won the Elvis bid, said he bought the statue for his mother, a huge Elvis fan. For more about the auction, read the Chicago Tribune story.