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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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Permalink Reply by Wendy Christine on January 2, 2013 at 12:44am

Okay Steve, good to get the break down on the numbers :)

If T&B bought this in 1989, do we know how much was paid for it?  Because they would have been working for Michael for only a few years, to be able to buy such a large ticket item.  1989 was in the Bad era of MJ's popularity.  It probably didn't fetch $324,000. though.

Permalink Reply by MJ-fan-1965 on January 2, 2013 at 1:05am

After I saw your posts (both you and Steve), I got to thinkin, that it probably wasn't D & T that bough it, but MJ himself just to donate money.  I could really see him doing that.  But that is really a huge assumption on my part.  What I would like to see now though, since there is so many questions about every single item out there even ones with provenance, is the invoice from Sotheby's saying "signed" bad coat. 

They do have another item from that same Sotheby auction that supposedly has an invoice too.  http://www.juliensauctions.com/auctions/2009/music-icons/michael-ja...

A very good find though none the less, that he ties himself to the item. 

Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on January 2, 2013 at 1:39am

Agreed.

Permalink Reply by Wendy Christine on January 2, 2013 at 12:35am

Right the commission. That's what I meant when I said maybe in Bush's materialistic brain he's subtracting Darren's cut. 

The part we thought was most important was the consignment due to the fact we could not be sure about the signature.  But if the jacket is sourced as being sold in 1989, then I will delete the post.

Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on January 2, 2013 at 1:29am

Please don't delete it, it's important information. We don't know the facts and the jacket supposedly wasn't printed in the catalog back then, but we should be able to verify things. I'm really glad you posted it.

Permalink Reply by Wendy Christine on January 2, 2013 at 1:31pm

I didn't know we had previous info on this, so I'm still catching up on that.

And I'm going to send Sandy the pages she so kindly offered to scan b/c I want to make sure I'm reading Bush's statement correctly in that caption.

Beyond that:

Extensively researched the net.  Only thing found is on MJJCollectors.com :

http://www.mjjcollectors.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&am...

Searched everywhere for Sotheby's Collectors' Carrousel 1989 information - a catalog, or EVEN just a photo of this Bad jacket with THIS signature on it dating to 1989.  No archive info on Sotheby's site, that I could find.  

Only Sotheby's Collectors' Carrousel catalog I can find within that decade is NOT from 1989, but from 1985.  Sold mostly Beatles, but see last photo in first auction below - sold THRILLER framed records.... not the Bad jacket.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sothebys-Catalogue-Collectors-Carrousel-roc...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sothebys-Collectors-Carrousel-including-Roc...

If MJ signed this then he signed it.  He could have donated it UNsigned,,, or signed the REAL one, and this is a forgery.  This is messy.  But right now we have Julien's, Bush and MJJCollectors.com as are only sources for the story that this is THE original jacket.  

Moving on from this one, I guess. But it stinks. What do you think?

Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on January 2, 2013 at 3:35pm
Permalink Reply by MJ-fan-1965 on January 6, 2013 at 10:39am

Thanks for posting this Steve.  Here is the story I read after looking up this coat a week or so ago, I didn't realize I had saved a bookmark to it (I was just cleaning out my bookmarks).

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/11/21/michael.jackson.auction... 

A signature black synthetic blend jacket from Jackson's 16-month Bad World Tour, his first concert tour as a solo artist, sold for $270,000. Featuring black straps with silver buckles and zippers, the jacket came to symbolize Jackson's "Bad" era.

Tori Renza, whose father bought her the Bad jacket when she was just 4 years old, said she grew up singing and dancing to Jackson's songs around her house.

"It just became part of our family," said Renza, who planned to use the money from the auction to pay back student loans.

Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on January 6, 2013 at 10:51am

There we go! Mystery solved. Thanks, MJ Fan '65.

Permalink Reply by Charlotte Stanley on January 6, 2013 at 1:18pm

I knew there was a story like that. I had heard it but forgot what it was. Thats great! So it WAS signed when they bought it I assume right?

Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on January 2, 2013 at 9:41am
The more I look at this jacket, the more I think the autograph is legit. "Love," while having a combined v and e, is in a style I've seem before with no question good autographs. We really need Roger on this.
Permalink Reply by Wendy Christine on January 2, 2013 at 5:30pm

Hi Steve,

Yes, I ran into that on a couple book search sites. Are you able to see the inside contents? I'm not able to.

Just noticed, the caption on page 101 of Bush's book reads (as best I can make out):  "Opposite: The original promotional(?) Bad jacket that Bill Whitten made for the cover of the Bad album. Right: The first Bad jacket Dennis and I (?) sold at auction for $290,000 in 2009."

So it's not the jacket on the left, but the jacket on the right Bush is claiming a connection to.

Looks like that's all on that one. Still not liking the signature though.. other than the M in Michael, and maybe the L in Love and the date.

Would love to see a 1989 photo of the jacket signed.

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