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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Permalink Reply by BreakOfDawn on December 19, 2012 at 9:01pm

"White House" jacket given to a fan by MJ and later re-created by Bush.

Zoom in on photo to read small print under photo saying it is a re-creation.

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Permalink Reply by Helen on December 20, 2012 at 1:25am

What's even more baffling is that they didn't sell the replica white house jacket if they had one! This is an exact copy, not the MTV jacket they dressed up and sold.

But yes, it definitely begs the question how many auction items were replicas never worn by Michael.

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Permalink Reply by BreakOfDawn on December 19, 2012 at 9:08pm

Bigger/clearer picture of re-created White House jacket in Bush's words.

Attachments: No photo uploads here

image.jpg, 946 KB

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on December 19, 2012 at 9:43pm

Lady Gaga is due another $144,000 back from Julien's. That's on top of the $555,000 they owe her for the problem signed memorabilia she bought.

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Permalink Reply by Wendy Christine on December 19, 2012 at 11:13pm

Yup. Now if only she would request it.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on December 20, 2012 at 5:43am

I'm sure she will ask for a refund, and have everything checked out. I would not be surprised if a lot of buyers demanded refunds even if it hasn't been proven that their purchases are misrepresented. Everything from Tompkins and Bush is likely to be looked at with suspicion from now on. The provenance could easily carry a negative value.

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Permalink Reply by MJ-fan-1965 on December 20, 2012 at 5:52am

ok, I went back thru the threads and combined 2 of your emails Steve as you used the term Gaga and signed in your post- can anyone verify if this is the full list of signed items Gaga bought?

588 signed jumpsuit ($5,625)
611 signed loafers ($10,000)
663 signed jumpsuit ($5,000)
680 signed bad era belt ($10,000)
663 signed jumpsuit ($5,000)
675 signed MJ Bad Tour Belt $37,500
698 signed magic jumpsuit 2 ($43,750)
704 signed MJ Bad Tour Thriller Jacket w/M $180,000
728 signed Peter Pan Jacket $7,500
815 signed Road case ($5,625)
835 signed Filthy Tabloid jacket ($8,750)
852 signed hat ($11,250)
854 signed Dangerous belt ($7,500)
954 signed MJ Scream Shoes (signed on bottom) $31,250

The reason I am asking is someone on twitter posted a comment that she only bought one signed item, I'd like to provide a list to them of known items.

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Permalink Reply by MJ-fan-1965 on December 21, 2012 at 3:07am

anyone? Or the full list of items Gaga won, and I'll look up the rest of the items to see if they had sigs??

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Permalink Reply by TeamMichael777 on December 21, 2012 at 2:44am

OMG, thank you Sandy, so this means Bush knowingly sat at auction and let that jacket be sold as the "WhiteHouse" jacket,

Lady Gaga paid $144,000 for inaccurately described White House jacket – Juliens/Bush Forgeries | http://teammichaeljackson.com/archives/7303#.UNQ9YOJ71N4.twitter

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Permalink Reply by Michelle on December 19, 2012 at 11:32pm

Remember on the auction day, Sunday, Dec. 2, and Michael Frost got that text message from Darren Julien around 6PM, asking who his legal counsel was cause he was gonna sue him? I bet that was the moment right after NBC4 got in his face to ask him about these items and the authentication. He looks pissed in that video. NBC4 had more than just the auction on their mind and Julien looked shocked to be asked during the auction.

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Permalink Reply by MJ-fan-1965 on December 20, 2012 at 6:20am

“We just started taking photos with detailed shots of everything, for fear that he was going to come back and want a duplicate made,” Bush recalls. “And at one point he saw these hundreds of 35-millimeter slides I had, just for research for us for security blanket, and he kept on saying, ‘You should do a book!”

The above was taken from an news article from Bush located here: (I'm unsure if this is also printed in his book) but to those stating Bush "could have" made an error in the jackets, I call b.s.