AceShowbiz - Surgical instruments allegedly used to conduct Elvis Presley's autopsy have been removed from an upcoming auction amid doubts about the macabre items' authenticity. The controversial auction was due to feature forceps, needle injectors, aneurysm hooks, an arterial tube, and lip brushes said to have been used to prepare The King's body for burial following his death in 1977.

The sale also was set to include rubber gloves, a comb, eye liner, and even a toe tag for identifying Presley's corpse in the morgue. The instruments were expected to sell for a total of $14,000 (9,300 pound sterling) when they went under the hammer in August, but officials at Chicago, Illinois' Leslie Hindman Auctioneers have withdrawn the items following queries about their legitimacy.

The memorabilia was reportedly kept by an unnamed senior embalmer at the Memphis Funeral Home where the rock 'n' roll legend's body was stored, prior to his funeral - but the retiree's claims were called into question after another employee suggested the equipment was sterilized and used again in other autopsies.