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A note about the author of this article, Dr. Dave Auxier. Lion Dave was a member of the Whitehaven Lions Club in Memphis from 1967 to 2002. He retired from his veterinary practice and moved to Southern Illinois, where he joined the Murphysboro Lions Club.
The first of the series of Elvis Presley pins, the Brown Guitar, was designed and ordered in late 1976. Since the Club had several members who were interested in pin trading and indicated they would be attending the 1977 Lions Clubs International Convention in New Orleans the next summer, we ordered 2,000 of this first issue. The pins were 2 1/2" in length and cost us $1.00 a pin. These pins were an instant success at the convention and people, especially the ladies, were clamoring for the Elvis Presley "banjo" pins, as they called them. Why they thought they were banjos wasn't clear, but at that convention, we had no trouble trading them for just about anything we wanted.
Later that year, in light of the success of the brown guitar pin, we decided to make a yearly issue of the same design, changing only the color each year. We did not put a date on the pins in this first set, which ran for 8 years.
As the set progressed, it became very valuable for trading purposes, and even though 2,000 of the first pin had been issued, they became so much in demand that some unscrupulous trader (or traders) began counterfeiting them. On the surface, it was difficult to tell the difference, but these fake pins did not have the Ho Ho Art and Craft trade mark on the back. To compound the chicanery, some of the counterfeiters started putting a wreath on the brown 1976 guitar, even though Elvis didn't pass away until 1977. I have even seen a wreath on a yellow 1978 guitar pin. Apparently word got around to watch out for the fake guitars because they gradually disappeared from circulation after a few years.
As you can see below, we made a red prestige pin in 1980, a white one in 1982, and a blue one in 1983. |
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| We thought the small guitars had run their course, so in 1984, the Club decided to issue a set of Elvis Presley gold record pins with a different song title on each pin. We decided to stick to the same color patterns as the first set of guitars. These pins were larger and heavier and not as easy to wear on a lapel or vest. For whatever reason, the gold record set never took off like the guitars, but we stuck to the series for the full 8 years. Again, we issued prestige pins with spinning records in 1988, 1990, and 1991. All of this series had the year date on them. |
