Recentelijk werden fans en fanclubs van over de hele wereld op de hoogte gebracht van een “koopje”. De vermeende eigenaar van de originele Aloha-belt had besloten zijn pronkstuk te verkopen voor 125.000 dollar (een kleine 80.000 euro). Het bijhorende echtheidscertificaat meldt dat Elvis de riem in het publiek gooide, en dat de dochter van acteur Jack Lord de belt greep. Onderzoek leerde echter dat Jack Lord – inmiddels overleden – niet eens een dochter had. Over de belt zelf, staken we ons licht op bij het team van Butch Polston, die nauw samenwerkt met Gene Doucette, de eigenlijke ontwerper van de belts (en werknemer van Bill Belew). Butch is formeel: deze belt is compleet vals. De stenen kloppen niet, het leder is te wit, de sluiting is anders dan bij de originele belts, de arenden staan verkeerd. Dit is het volledige antwoord… Let dus goed op voor je in de verleiding komt om je spaarboekje te plunderen!

Hi Peter, thanks for asking. This is a fake. Butch made it several years ago for Joe Battig who said he wanted to display it in a resturant. He lied to Butch, and made a fake letter to go with the belt and tried to sell it as the real thing. Butch and Kim saw it at a store in Las Vegas that sells memorabilia, and told them it was a fake. Supposedly, the shop took it down. It showed up on eBay about a week ago. Butch took notes from his conversation with this guy. He asked about Jack Lord's family. You can tell by looking at the picture a few things that are certainly wrong.

1. The hooking device on the back of the belt if Butch's own design. Elvis' did not have two loops that would be visable. It had one loop and it was sewn on the the end of the belt.

2. The red stones on the belt would be flat. The big rounded dome is what we use, because the flat "buff top" stones aren't available anymore.

3. The eagles on the belt aren't right. These are ones that Butch had made, and we hold the copyright on.

4. A leather belt wouldn't look that white after 35 years. The studs and chains would be tarnishing too.

The letter says "Elvis took off his belt and gave it to my daughter." Jack Lord never had a daughter, or this belt. So on the eBay auction, they were forced to take the belt off the website because someone told him Jack Lord didn't have a daughter in the question and answer section.

Also, Bill Belew only had Gene make 2 Aloha suits. There were 4 of this style belt made for Elvis. One was thrown at the Hawaii concert, one he wore with the suit until it fell apart, a third was given to Ed Parker, and the fourth was made to be worn with the Embroidered Eagle suit.

We've gotten a lot of questions about this belt recently. If you could, pass some of this information along. It makes Butch crazy when people try to pass his belts off as the originals. It's flattering, but it's not why we're in business. You know how honest Butch is! Thank you for asking about the belt.

Take care,

Virginia

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