ELVIS PRESLEY’S CRYPT has left the auction block. The crypt in which the King was first buried has been withdrawn from a huge auction of sports and music memorabilia in Los Angeles following loud protests from fans.

Celebrity auctioneer Darren Julien said on Friday that his company has agreed not to sell the crypt after fans around the world demanded that it be kept as a shrine to his memory. The crypt was to be one of nearly 1,000 items belonging to sports and music icons on offer at the weekend.

Julien’s Auctions announced in May that it would sell the empty tomb at the Forest Hill Cemetery in Memphis, Tennessee, at its “Music Icons” auction on Sunday.

Following the announcement, Elvis fans were in uproar and an online petition on the site ElvisMatters.com was signed by over 10,000 people. After the the crypt had been pulled from the auction, the site displayed a victory notice that read “YES WE DID IT!!”

“Those who now visit the crypt will not be able to forget the fans,” the site said.

Julien said the company won’t sell the crypt “until Forest Hills finds a plan that best suits the interests of the fans while respecting and preserving the memory of Elvis Presley.”

Presley was buried in the crypt alongside his mother, Gladys, after he died in 1977. Two months later, they were reburied at his Graceland home. The original crypt has remained empty ever since.

Fans were able to snap up a host of other Elvis items at the two day auction, the Telegraph reports, including his personal telephone which sold for $20,480 and a 14 carat gold necklace with the king’s initials, sold for $31,250.

- Additional reporting by Michelle Hennessy