The White Glove worn by Michael Jackson during Moon Walk dance

This isn’t surprising at all. At a memorabilia auction held on Saturday, Michael Jackson’s famous white glove was sold for $350,000. Another black jacket the King of Pop wore during a 1989 world tour fetched $225,000. Although the auction constituted of hundreds of rock ‘n’ roll items, including many not associated with the Pop King, yet Jackson memorabilia stole all the limelight.

The white glove of the late pop star was referred as “the Holy Grail of Michael Jackson” by Darren Julien, CEO of Julien’s Auctions, the organization that ran the auction. A pre-sale estimation for the master piece was about $50,000, which was surpassed by large counts. Hoffman Ma, who is a Hong Kong based business man, paid $420,000 as the final price along with the added commission (excluding taxes).

Jackson’s black, strap and zipper-laden jacket that he wore during the 1989 “Bad” tour was sold at $275,000 including commission. The bidding soared to $225,000, which is 20 times higher than what was estimated earlier.

Huge fans as well as dealers gathered at Times Square, New York’s Hard Rock Cafe for the auction. The primary attractions of the sale also included a car driven by Jackson, a guitar of David Bowie and memorabilia from the Beatles to Bo Diddley.

Jazmynn Moore, a 19 year old student from Manhattan, said, “I never got to see Michael, and now that he’s gone this is the closest I could get”.

The white glove of MJ was worn by the King of Pop during the 1983 Motown 25 television special when he first staged the famous moonwalk dance. The opening bid for the glove was $10,000, which immediately leaped to $120,000 before finally closing it at $350,000.

There were about 80 items belonging to Jackson that mostly comprised of items donated by family and friend to whom Jackson had gifted the items. A sum of about $100,000 was collected by selling Jackson’s belongings from the auction, which is close to 20 times the estimates.

Michael Jackson

A portrait of Michael Jackson painted in 1984 by King of Pop Art Andy Warhol is being sold at an auction in New York. The price at which the portrait has been sold is not disclosed yet.

As reported by the Vered Art Gallery of Long Island, an anonymous buyer had “paid over 1 million dollars” for the Michael Jackson’s portrait. The art work was at a display at London’s O2 Arena prior to the sale as reported by the BBC news. The portrait of Jackson that celebrated the record sales of album ‘Thriller’ was 76cm by 66cm in size. Earlier the portrait of actress Elizabeth Taylor by Andy Warhol was sold at a walloping 23.7 million dollars in 2007.

The king of pop might have passed away two months ago, but people have been cashing in on various memorabilia of Jackson. From autographs of MJ to t-shirts printed up in the wake of the singer’s sudden death almost everything is being sold at large.

Amy Winehouse

On being told that topless sunbathing on the beach is banned, an infuriated Amy Winehouse protested boldly (..or rather baring-ly). She went semi-naked and ran through the grounds of her Caribbean Hotel (a family resort) providing a stunning show to her fellow guests.

Those staying at Cotton Bay Village Hotel, in St. Lucia, with Winehouse, were astounded to see her run around bare breast. ”Everyone was shocked when she began running around half naked. She was talking to herself and flailing her arms around but we couldn’t understand what she was saying,” remarked one guest. The 25-year-old British singer ran to the pool area, where children were playing, as she took off her clothes. Eventually, a hotel worker stopped Winehouse and gave her a blue wrap to cover herself. Her clothes, which she had thrown on the sand, were picked up by her bodyguard.

Having fallen in love with St. Lucia during her holiday earlier this year, she had returned to the island last week to buy a property. She claims that spending two months in the island helped her recover from drug addiction; “I’m clean now and feel much better for it. I’m just a normal girl now.” That´s good news. But by stripping publicly, she shocked guests at the family resort where she is staying. Well..she was angry.

MJ is in dire need of money these days. Michael Jackson’s debt-stricken life knows no other way out but to sell off his personal belongings as a means to gain good hard cash. MJ was recently rumoured to be living a life like a commoner with no extra luxuries to go by. He has, several times in the past, sold off his belongings at Auctions, online or general to gain money.

This time, Michael Jackson’s memorabilia has been collected which is well expected to fetch at least $1.5 million (£1.1 million) when it goes under the hammer in April (09). The ‘Thriller’ pop star who is said to be as cash strapped as ever is reportedly selling off more than 2,000 personal belongings from his debt-ridden Neverland Ranch estate for the Julien’s Auctions sale in Beverly Hills.

Investors at the Sycamore Valley Ranch Co., a joint venture between Jackson and an affiliate of Colony Capital Llc agreed to take over the singer’s $24.5 million (£17.2 million) debt on the property after Jackson repeatedly failed to keep up with the $3 million (£2.1 million)-a-year running costs and was forced to sell the $25 million (£17.5 million) estate.

MJ’s valued personal items as well as certain showbiz items are being planned, to be sold, which include a glittering white glove covered in Swarovski crystals that Jackson wore for a stage performance of Billie Jean. the glove is estimated to sell for as much as $15,000 (£10,510) and the gates to the120-acre ranch, which are estimated to go for at least $20,000 (£14,015).

MJ has always remained a superstar leading a life of a bohemian never thinking of the consequences. MJ’s fall in popularity and absence in stage shows spell the doom in his starry life. Michael has evaded public appearances and live performances in the recent past. He has reportedly been busy with new music but nothing has come up. His personal disasters never really brought him back to stardom that he enjoyed in his heydays.

Jackson’s 1999 Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph limo, decorated in 24-karat gold, is expected to fetch another $140,000 (£98,110). Julien’s Auctions president Darren Julien tells the New York Post, “Michael Jackson was a collector of everything. We’ve never seen a collection that is as extensive and eccentric as his”.

MJ has other plans as well. He wants to donate a portion of the proceeds from the auction to MusiCares, a charity which aims to help musicians in need. A preview of the auction items will be held from 24 to 29 March (09) at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York’s Times Square.

John Lennon

A rare recording by John Lennon has reportedly fetched $30,000 at auction. The song is being regarded as a very rude one sung by the legend. John sings: “Just a little cocaine will set me right.” the song was never heard in public. The rude song by The Beatles singer was a take on Lloyd Price’s ‘Just Because’. It is believed to be an obscene version made by Lennon.

The tape begins with John reportedly slurring: “I want to take all them new singers, Carol and the other one with the nipples, I want to take them and hold them tight, all them people that James Taylor had… I want to suck your nipples, baby!”

The song was an impromptu one done with intentional drunken slurring by Lennon. A spokesperson for Los Angeles’ Bonhams and Butterfields auction house, said: “It was six minutes, 16 seconds, and John singing very drunk and with John ad-libbing his own lyrics into the song. It’s actually a fun song to listen to.”

The tape reportedly dates back to the time when John separated from his wife Yoko Ono for 18 months – which he later described as his ‘Lost Weekend’. That comes to around 1973.
The band that played alongside Lennon in the recording is heard slowing up and pushing up their tempo to match Lennon’s. And finally the recording is brought to a halt abruptly.

Lennon later re-recorded ‘Just Because’ for his album ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll’ in 1975. The anonymous owner claimed that the tape was provided by John himself. Even the buyer is unidentified as long as the cause remains “Lennon’s ‘Just Because’”.

Marilyn Monroe

Christie’s auction house held a show where a collection of 36 photographs of the late Hollywood actress Marilyn Monroe fetched 97,000 pounds. The rare images were shot by Bert Stern for American Vogue magazine. The photos have already started creating a major uproar since the photos are believed to be the last professional photographs of Monroe. The photographs ran through the magazine as a memorial to the superstar.

The series is a part 100 iconic images of Monroe that are to be auctioned as part of a pre-Christmas photographic sale at the house.

Philippe Garner, Christie’s international head of photographs, said in a statement : “…Marilyn Monroe’s magical appeal has proven to be truly timeless…”

James Bond lovers get up ! The Bond Lotus Esprit used in the film “The Spy Who Loved Me” found itself under hammer at a Bonhams auction in London yesterday.

James Bond’s car the white 1976 Lotus Esprit has been sold to a private US collector who did the bidding over phone. The bidding was at the Bonhams sale.

The Lotus Esprit sold for 111,500 pounds. The Lotus is one the two Lotus brands that were used by Roger Moore in the 1977 film. The car took an iconic amphibious shape that ended up in the sea during a chase sequence. A Bonhams spokesman said: “We are delighted with the result and delighted that it attracted worldwide attention.”

The buyer identified himself as a Bond and Lotus fan. The buyer said that the car would be heading for Atlanta, Georgia. The registration number AU1 from Bond classic Goldfinger was also put to bid. But the auction did not fetch a buyer after failing to reach its reserve price. The bid for the Bond registration number was placed at the same sale in London’s Olympia.

Daniel Craig’s latest “Quantum of Solace” featured the most popular Bond car – Aston Martin. Craig is not much of a technology enthusiast and so the car was among the few gadgets that were retained in the film.