A Twin Winton Mystery on a Elvis Presley Bust Circa 1961

Hi Jerry,

I enjoyed your website www.twinwinton.com very much. It is obvious that you, as an admirer and collector of Don Winton's work, have put a lot of effort in building the website and supplying the people with information about Mr. Winton.

Please let me introduce myself. My name is Bob Pakes, I'm from Holland and a fan and collector of Elvis Presley's 1950's output. Besides his music, I collect the line of Elvis merchandise that was produced between 1956 and 1958 by Elvis Presley Enterprises.

Like you, I have a website, through which I supply the fans with detailed info about certain aspects of Elvis' 1950's career: http://www.elvisechoesofthepast.com

Since about 6 years I have been doing research for a book that I am now about to publish about Elvis Presley Enterprises. It is really just a labor of love, and I only expect to (but hopefully) sell a few hundred copies since the book is about such a specialized topic that not many buyers will be interested.
For the past 5 months I been putting on the finishing touches, and one by one I am closing the various entries in the book.

The Elvis bust, produced in 1961, has always been something of a mystery, not just to me but to all the serious EPE collectors I know.

EPE stopped producing Elvis merchandise in July 1958, after Elvis went into the army. After the flood of merchandise (that included over 180 officially licensed products) in 1956 and '57, there were only Elvis dog tags in 1958, nothing in 1959 and 1960. And suddenly in 1961 this bust appears.

What we know is that it was sculptured by Don Winton, and only very few copies exist. It is generally assumed that the bust was not meant for commercial release but rather a promotional item that was given out to close friends and members of the press around Christmas time 1961. The bust was made out of metal, and gold-plated, it weighs about 900 grams, and stands 7" tall. On the back of the pedestal we see the 1961 EPE copyright logo.

Different variations of the bust have turned up in the past decades, all were reproductions. Most of the EPE licensed products were copycatted, and usually the reproes are quite easy recognized as such from the originals. However, a bronze variation of the bust has been fetching high prices on auction sites (not just on eBay, but also on renowned vintage auction sites like Heritage and Hakes) for circa the past 10 years. And recently I came across a small flyer/advertisement that was sent to members of the Elvis Fan Club in early 1962 advertising the gold-plated bust. So, apparently the gold-plated variation appeared to be commercially sold after all, still, very few of these must have been produced and nowadays prices around $ 1500 / $ 1800 are not out of the ordinary. The prices of the bronze bust are around $ 400, which is also quite high for an official EPE Elvis product that is not from 1956.

Besides the fact that the bust is from 1961, which by itself really makes no sense, it would not be until 1982 before EPE would once again license new Elvis products (when Graceland opened its doors and all sorts of ridiculous Elvis products saw the light of day).

But the bust also shows an Elvis from 1956, a totally different looking fellow, with long sideburns and a wild quaff. By 1961, Elvis wore his hair short, and sideburns were a thing of the past for at least 3 years by that time.

However, in 1956, a set of Elvis bookends was produced. And Elvis' hair on that bookend is identical to his hair on the 1961 bust. The rest of the face is not 100% identical to the bust.

- what can you tell me about Mr Winton's collaboration with EPE in 1961?

- do photos of Mr Winton working on, or holding the finished bust, exist?

- do you maybe have any information about the amount of busts that were produced?

- the gold-plated bust is for sure an original, but was the high-price-fetching bronze variation also produced in 1961, or later?

- did Mr Winton maybe also sculpture the 1956 Elvis bookends?

Bob Pakes