Michael Jackson Auction Canceled

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Apr 14th 2009 at 11:41PM

Last month, Michael Jackson began his campaign to cancel a huge auction of his personal belongings. Now, a week before the auction, the King of Pop has gotten his way. Auctioneer Darren Julien told Reuters that he has reached an agreement with Jackson that will see the items returned to Jackson after the public exhibit of the 1,400 lots is over. The auction was to be held on April 22-25 and included Jackson's customized Rolls-Royce, costumes, memorabilia, art and custom furnishings. It could have brought in $10 million or more.

It would have been the largest authorized auction of Jackson's belongings and Julien's Auction House spared no expense in putting the auction together. The Reuters article says that Darren Julien spent as much $2 million preparing the sale and the exhibit, even creating a signed and numbered five-volume catalog that would sell for $500. This isn't the first time that Jackson has quashed an auction of his good but it is surprising considering that he originally participated in putting the sale together and even decided to allocate some of the funds to the Music Cares charity. Perhaps now that he is planning to perform again his finances are looking a bit brighter. Jackson is believed to have paid some money in a settlement with the auction house that may result in some of the items finding a permanent public home in some sort of museum-like space.

Gallery: The Auction That Never Was