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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 Graham Summers on November 23, 2012 at 2:43pm

It hurts me to know that these autographs appear to be blatant fakes. I met Mr Bush he is a lovely guy but its so sad if these do turn out to be fakes. I've many a MJ autograph and none of them look like these

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Permalink Reply by BreakOfDawn on November 23, 2012 at 3:15pm

The double XX thing is especially weird to me. I have never seen Michael use XX at the end if his signature before. Furthermore that is not an American thing to do, it is typically a British thing. Americans use XO or XOX, British use XX.
Maybe not important but something that sticks out to me. Like some unknowing Brit fake signed these.

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Permalink Reply by Graham Summers on November 23, 2012 at 3:58pm

It's looking very likely these are fakes, having been to the gallery in Stratford I did think the signed items looked dodgy. I tried justifying it to myself because it was on fabric etc. I've seen MJ's auto on fabric and none of them look like this, it's wrong and it has ruined genuine iconic clothing if MJ's. I don't want to believe this, as I like Bush a lot, he spent a lot of time with me. All the same if they are fakes and turn out to be then who signed them, maybe Bush received them signed like that. I don't want to point fingers, but lets have some answers, before the witch hunt gets out of hand. My opinion is they are fakes 100%

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Permalink Reply by Jadzzia Mj on November 23, 2012 at 4:06pm

Graham , Yes there was a false gallery Stratford, a friend told me there was, he saw. ..

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Permalink Reply by BreakOfDawn on November 23, 2012 at 4:10pm

What will Julien's accept or take seriously as proof of forgery?
Do they the autograph authenticators/agencies seriously?
Does that meet whatever standard is required?
Or do we need some sort of board-certified/licensed expert like courts use to examine and produce a report?
That costs money but I think enough MJ fans would contribute to the cost.
We don't have much time left so we need to ACT now.

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Permalink Reply by Graham Summers on November 23, 2012 at 4:16pm

I agree

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Permalink Reply by BreakOfDawn on November 23, 2012 at 4:24pm

http://www.handwritingexperts.com/newyork/handwritingexperts.html

Is this legitimate?
I want to hire a forensic expert for this.

I spoke to the Bob Baier and he said most don't do memorabilia because there are so many forgeries so the base to compare against is unreliable. I told him the Julien's situation and that I have autographs done in front of me that I want to compare against. He said to call back tomorrow and he will try to find someone who does this.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on November 23, 2012 at 4:43pm

There are so many autograph experts familiar with Michael Jackson's signature.

PSA/DNA, which will give what they call a Quick Opinion (likely genuine or likely not) straight from links to a lot in an auction for $10: http://www.psacard.com/store/p-50-quickopinion.aspx

Roger Epperson Authentication does the same and charges $15. www.rogerepperson.com

JSA (James Spence Authentication) is another good choice, but they don't offer online opinions.

All are good at MJ's autograph. Roger specializes in music, and is the top music authenticator (the one we recommend the most) but Darren Julien doesn't like Roger, so I think they're more likely to listen to PSA/DNA if they listen to anyone.

I think the PSA/DNA Quick Opinions are a good way to go, because potential buyers will see in advance how likely PSA would be to call the autograph genuine if it's submitted for full authentication. And you could have answers in a day or two.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on November 23, 2012 at 5:10pm

Getting opinions from both authenticators would probably make the most sense. Since Roger is JSA's modern music consultant, too. If neither PSA/DNA, JSA nor Epperson will certify a music autograph, it's basically worthless.

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Permalink Reply by Xwiesy on November 23, 2012 at 4:33pm

You know, after seeing no shortage of authentic signatures and they look identical year after year, it just seems strange to see this new style of signature pop up, all in this one auction.

MJ was a pretty gracious signer, and we have tons of known authentic examples that look zero like these. I mean, they aren't close. What does your head tell you here? That, oh, in spite of what your eyes are seeing, we have a great story to with them, so they could be real? Provenance is important, provided the signature matches up. And that's the only time it's important. To say otherwise would mean we could just tell ourselves a story about any old forgery amd the story would male it real.

For me, they look fake, and that is being polite.

There is no way I would bid my hard earned money on them, at any price.

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Permalink Reply by Michelle on November 23, 2012 at 5:18pm

Who is located in the Los Angeles area who specializes in Michael Jackson? The clothing are on display right now in Beverly Hills at Julien's. They will allow you to take the item out and look at it closely for inspection if you are a potential buyer/bidder.