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Michael Jackson Signing Styles in Julien's Tompkins and Bush Sale

On December 2, Julien's Auctions is selling The Collection of Tompkins and Bush. The collection contains 465 lots of Michael Jackson memorabilia, 287 of them autographed.

Michael Bush and the late Dennis Tompkins were Michael Jackson's costume designers for 25 years, during Jackson's most successful period. They were the consignors of the signed Thriller jacket that Julien's sold for $1,800,000 in June 2011.

Almost all of the autographs in the Tompkins and Bush sale are a variation I'm not familiar with. I've only been looking at Jackson's autograph for a few years, though, and we have members here who have collected him for decades, so I'd appreciate your input and exemplars.

If you know Michael Jackson's autograph well, please look at a few images below from the auction and let me know what you think. Even better, browse the auction and upload any similar examples you have: http://www.julienslive.com/view-auctions/catalog/id/77/

Julien's is the world's premier auction house for Michael Jackson memorabilia, so they would know his autograph better than most of us. I'm just surprised I haven't seen this style before.

Thanks for your help.

Tags: 2012, Julien's, auction, michael jackson, tompkins and bush

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Carl Ryan on December 3, 2012 at 12:54am

They claim that the video cant be shown b/c it shows MJ in his impaired state. Which smells of rotten eggs to me. If they are questioned they can always claim this excuse. Its exactly like the AFTAL scandal and their MJ autographs and the supposed video that was supposed to be shown. Yet it never was, and suspiciously no one at the Autografica show asked to see it.

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Permalink Reply by Helen on December 3, 2012 at 7:25am

"MJ in an impaired state" can only mean he was hypnotised. I've yet to hear of a drug that doesn't impair a person's ability to write yet magically changes their handwriting!

The effects of the drug on him are supposedly such that it would be shocking to see, yet he managed to write his name with complete consistency and extra comments and flourishes on *hundreds* of items in one sitting (or are we meant to believe that the effects of the drug changed his handwriting completely consistently every time?).

And a lot of these items are quite awkward to sign (shoes, hats, unwieldy tailor's dummies) and/or made of quite challenging materials to write on. This must have taken HOURS. What kind of drug is that?? Speed? Ecstacy?

Also, WHY would Bush suddenly think about asking Michael to sign these hundreds of items when he was happy to leave them sitting in storage for *years* before? It's not like Bush could have foreseen that the value of an MJ autograph on a can of stain remover would rise in value soon, could he...?

How stupid do they think we are?!?

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on December 3, 2012 at 12:08pm

Carl,

I don't think anyone here besides me was told that MJ would sometimes go to Tompkins and Bush's house after medical procedures to recover. Darren Julien told me that by phone, so I have no proof that he did.

DB was apparently told by Darren that MJ was on anesthetic, too, but not with the same details. I couldn't tell for sure, though, what he said.

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Permalink Reply by Helen on December 3, 2012 at 3:57pm

I think Roger Friedman was told, too. Who contacted him about this, was it you, Steve? From what I remember being posted of his response he didn't say what proof Julien told him he had but I think it's likely to be the "impaired state video" version. Since Friedman has long peddled the story that Michael was basically a drug addict and fans are obsessed and weird it's not surprising he would swallow the story fed to him by a "respected" auctioneer - it fits his personal bias.

It's an achievement that there has been some press noise at all, but tbh I'm a bit disappointed there isn't more interest. It looks to me like nobody has yet bothered to look at the comparison photos. It's so blindingly obvious!

And if Julien aren't officially telling the drug story, what *are* they saying?? WHY isn't anybody asking why these sigs look completely different to any known MJ signature?? There were a lot of items in the catalogue that were completely worthless without autograph (making this auction bona fide fraud, no two ways about it). HELLO people, you spend thousands of dollars on an autograph you could pick up on Ebay for a tenth of the price, and don't even bother to check the signature?!?! The whole thing just beggars belief! How can somebody care enough to spend that kind of money and not even know what Michael's autograph looks like??

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Permalink Reply by Charlotte Stanley on December 3, 2012 at 4:03pm

Mind boggling isnt it?

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Permalink Reply by Face on December 3, 2012 at 4:14pm

Yeah I was in touch with Friedman... I though he would be a great choice to run the story first! I was so sure that he would go for it...

He checked on his side, and told me he wouldn't run the story, that he believes the signatures are real.

He told me he knows Julien's, as he dealt with them before, and he assured me that Julien's would never expose themselves to fraud!

When I tried to make him realize he was wrong, he then told me that the signatures are definitely real and : "And Julien’s has proof which they’re not going to share. But it’s beyond Bush saying it’s true."

I was so pissed that he didn't really look into the case, usually, when it is an MJ scandal, Friedman always jumped on it... this time it was in favor of MJ... So not that interesting for him anymore...!

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Permalink Reply by Helen on December 3, 2012 at 4:27pm

Ah, yes, thanks. Like I say, I suspect Julien just told him what fit his prejudice and he swallowed it without even looking at anything

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Permalink Reply by TeamMichael777 on December 3, 2012 at 4:27pm

Face, Friedman is a puppet to the Estate, John Branca is the founder of MusiCare, when MJ took Darren to court for fraud, part of the settlement was money would be given to MusiCare, Michael would never give money to a foundation by Branca, so in essence, Branca is behind Juliens,, this was how Michael succeeded in stopping the auction in April 09, but there were bids on items before the auction was closed, after Michael passed away, that bidder sued Juliens, Branca paid that bidder off by giving him all the items which were NOT supposed to be sold! So Friedman will never publish anything without passing it by Weitzman(estate attorney) first

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Permalink Reply by Wendy Christine on December 4, 2012 at 12:24am

Thank you TM. Been biting my fingers to keep from typing that. Friedman is a total Estate puppet - a well known one.

He's been plugging the Ca$cio tracks (another overt MJ FORGERY in vocal form) as being "real" since before they were officially released. He got a "special preview" of them from the Estate, did he not?? ..... To this day, with ALL knowledgeable, studied evidence to the contrary, Friedman STILL alleges they are "real".

Go figure.