neverland

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.

It was supposed to be the first auction of Michael Jackson memorabilia sanctioned by Michael himself, but the Julien's Auctions sale of the contents on Neverland Ranch has hit a snag. The AP is reporting that Jackson has filed a lawsuit to stop the auction which is scheduled for April 22-25. Jackson's company, MJJ Productions, has alleged that Darren Julien of Julien's Auctions promised to send Jackson an inventory of sale items, but that Jackson hadn't given permission to move them all. The quotes from the suit are pretty inflammatory claiming that the attempt to sell the goods is "malicious, fraudulent, extreme, outrageous and without any legal justification whatsoever."

It is set to be an astounding event, an eight-part auction in Beverly Hills featuring over 2,000 of Michael Jackson's possessions including suits of armor, a throne, a cape, a portrait of Michael Jackson in Elizabethan dress, rhinestone gloves and socks, costumes, awards and even his Rolls Royce limousine (you can see a photo gallery here). Julien's Auctions has already created a signed and numbered five-volume catalog sells for $500 and the auction is to be preceded by a seven-day exhibition.

This isn't the first time that Jackson has protested a sale of his things. He claimed he had no idea a 2007 sale of Jackson memorabilia at Guernsey's was set to take place. In the current case Jackson clearly knew the auction was set to take place and had authorized it. It may be that he is having second thoughts about losing his possessions and is hoping that his plans for a comeback tour will net him enough money to avoid selling the many gilded objects he holds so dear.