(INDIANOLA, MS) – Significant coverage this
past week of a sale to liquidate some of the personal items in B.B. King’s
estate has caused confusion over the future of the B.B. King Museum, according
to the museum’s director, Malika Polk-Lee. She explained that some of the news
was centered around the selling price of one of King’s “Lucille” guitars at
$280,000, which was around three times what was anticipated. “We want to make
sure everyone is aware that this sale was only of some of Mr. King’s personal
assets from his home in Las Vegas,” said Ms. Polk-Lee. She emphasized that
calls are coming in from people planning visits who were concerned that this
signaled a change at the museum, and she wants to make clear that the items
auctioned were never part of the collection housed at Mr. King’s official
museum.
Bill McPherson, museum board president, said,
“We were fortunate to have a great relationship with Mr. King throughout the
building of the museum, and he could not have been more generous in donating
items we thought would be a good fit with our plans. This included letting us
remove all the furnishings from his home office in Las Vegas so we could
reconstruct a complete replica of the space as one of the museum exhibits using
the actual items from his home.”
“The only thing changing at the B.B. King
Museum is our size,” added Ms. Polk-Lee. “We are adding new exhibit spaces to
allow us to house and display a tour bus and two personal automobiles,
including Mr. King’s Rolls Royce Silver Shadow. The final chapter in the
amazing story of Mr. King’s rise to stardom from his very humble beginning in
the Mississippi Delta will also be a part of this expansion,” she added.
The guitar that fetched the hefty sum at
auction was a signed ES-345 prototype that was given to Mr. King by Gibson in
honor of this 80th birthday. There were more than 550 other items, including
photographs, audio equipment, clothing and jewelry. A diamond-studded ring that
spelled “BB” brought $16,250, and according to the auction company, the entire
sale brought in around $1.3 million. And as far as other Lucilles, the museum
has a number of early and later versions in its collection, including the last
two guitars that Mr. King signed. They were used in his funeral procession and
are now securely stored. “We hope the auction prices continue to show the
strong attachment people have to items that belonged to Mr. King, and our
museum is still the best place to see much of his personal collection
interpreted through award-winning films and exhibits,” said Ms. Polk-Lee.