The typed words and ideas of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. again went on display Monday morning in preparation for auction, this time at a modest Atlanta auction gallery.

The small collection of letters, notes and speeches - some believed to have been written by King, some addressed to him - sat for 40 years in a faded green folder belonging to an anonymous woman who now lives in Maryland. The woman, said to be an Atlanta native and childhood friend of King’s, came forward after the successful sale of a much larger collection sold by Sotheby’s New York for $32 million.

Since announcing the auction last week, Paul Brown, the owner of Gallery 63, said he has received hundreds of e-mails from the media and interested buyers. He has not heard from the King family, which has vowed to halt the auction.

“All I’m selling is pieces of paper,” Brown said, adding that he understands that the family maintains the copyright of the contents. “These are pieces of history that belonged to this woman. I’m not interested in getting embroiled in any kind of controversy with the King family.”

Isaac Newton Farris Jr., president and CEO of The King Center, said on Monday that an investigation by the King estate’s intellectual property attorney is ongoing.

“This is not new territory for us,” Farris said. “We’re pretty versed in the law. We appreciate the woman holding onto them for the last 40 years, but … you can’t sell what’s not yours.”

Brown plans to auction the documents Sunday. The gallery’s Web site, which Brown said averages a couple hundred hits a day, had 9,000 hits Wednesday, the 39th anniversary of King’s assassination.

Posted: 04|11|07 at 9:55 pm. Filed under: US News.