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NBC News Investigates Julien's Auction's Michael Jackson Autograph Scandal

NBC News Los Angeles aired an investigative report on Julien's Auction's Tompkins & Bush Michael Jackson sale on Tuesday, Dec. 18's 11:00 News. Watch the report and read the accompanying article on NBC Los Angeles's website.

Julien's held the Tompkins & Bush Michael Jackson auction on December 2, but outrage has flooded Michael Jackson fan sites and the world of rock autographs since mid-November, as fans, dealers and collectors alike told Julien's CEO, Darren Julien, that almost all of the autographs in the sale were obvious forgeries.

The pleas to cancel the sale fell on deaf ears. All 290 lots of autographs were sold for a total of almost $1.5 million. The only autograph in the sale commonly believed to be genuine brought $896.

A discussion on this site about it, Michael Jackson Signing Styles in Julien's Tompkins and Bush Sale, was started on November 19. At 153 pages to date it is the longest discussion in the history of Autograph Magazine Live. Scores of suspected forgeries from the sale have been analyzed in the discussion. The consensus is that the most of the autographs were likely forged by the consignor, Jackson's long-time friend and costume designer, Michael Bush. The autographs have many of Bush's handwriting characteristics.

Julien's filed a copyright infringement claim against Autograph Magazine Live on December 13. On Dec. 17, our website company removed all the images Julien's claimed violated their copyright from this site pending our response and any further actions Julien's may take. We are legally allowed to use the images under Fair Use laws, and will file our counterclaim this week.

We will have uncontested images of autographs from the auction up starting tomorrow.

UPDATE: According to NBC, Darren Julien said that any client who questions the authenticity of the Michael Jackson autographs they bought in the Tompkins & Bush auction can return them for a refund. If Julien's will cover shipping both ways, that's the best news possible.

Tags: Julien's, michael jackson, nbc, tompkins and bush

7 members like this

Comment by Face on December 19, 2012 at 1:38am: I'm so sure Julien's are doing all they can to make sure Gaga's team don't pay any attention to this story

Comment by Sold Out Soul on December 19, 2012 at 1:43am: Carl Ryan, that's what crossed my mind because as you can see the actual jacket that was sold at auction was the jacket Michael wore to the 1994 VMAs...except there is a pin that has been added on.

Comment by Sold Out Soul on December 19, 2012 at 1:49am: Interesting...according to a fellow MJ fan, Michael Lee Bush wrote in his book that Michael gave a fan the jacket he wore to the white house, so a second one had to be made, which is obviously the one he's wearing at the 1994 VMAs.

Can anybody verify if this is what's stated in his book? If so, then exactly WHY would he claim this was the jacket Michael wore to the white house, knowing perfectly well that it wasn't and that it was the jacket he had to recreate for the 1994 VMAs? And for the pin to be added is just even more suspicious.

Comment by Cogo on December 19, 2012 at 2:03am: Hello!

I was recommended by Steve to post this info on this blog, hopefully it´s in any way helpful in your attempt to trace down these Bush-forgeries and the ones who bought them...

This item is on sale at Tradera, a swedish part of ebay.:

http://www.tradera.com/michael-jackson-signerad-bad-tour-jacket-auk...

The seller links to this: http://www.julienslive.com/view-auctions/catalog/id/77/lot/33826/

The seller can be contacted if you click at "Ställ en fråga till säljaren" to the right in the item description, but you need to be registered at Tradera to do that. You can register if you click at "Bli medlem" at the frontpage.

Maybe someone with good knowledge about this whole situation can contact the seller and help him/her get a refund...

Keep up the good work!!!

// Don Hakka

Comment by MJ-fan-1965 on December 19, 2012 at 3:01am: @ travis, I believe the first person who rec'd their money back was first offered the option of having Julien's relist the item in an upcoming auction - (Juliens would be pd their commission twice as they weren't refunding). This was not acceptable to the buyer, so Juliens stated they would refund, but not without first taking a jab at the people authenticating the items, and I quote: I am truly disheartened to hear that your faith in Julien’s Auctions has been shaken by what I can only characterize as misinformed and ill-motivated people without the requisite experience or expertise to speak on these issues.

Comment by Brandon Mysinger on December 19, 2012 at 3:47am: Steve, the video isn't showing on the page you linked to. Do you have it saved for presentation here?

Comment by Bjarne Soderholm on December 19, 2012 at 4:43am: I did contact the seller on Tradera in Sweden with a link to this discussion. So now we just have to wait and see what happens.

Comment by Veronica Shultz on December 19, 2012 at 5:40am: You don't have to contact anyone in Sweden since that seller is me. And I've been on this site trying to get help for a week now I think. I've been told the signature is fake. I've tried 10 times now to contact Julien's, I've written to Doyle, Nolan and Darren. With no answers from any of them. I've tried the form they have on the site with still no answers. I put the item up on that site so I can show them proof this is just nothing that goes on in US, I've already got 5 people asking if it's real. I have signatures at home by Michael Jackson, they do look alike but I'm not sure. And I just wrote Darren again saying I want a refund.

Comment by Veronica Shultz on December 19, 2012 at 5:41am: And I appriciate the help I got from here. Thank you.

Comment by Cogo on December 19, 2012 at 5:54am: To Veronica Schultz:

Maybe it's just me that doesn't understand, but why are you still trying to sell it when it's a fake and you are trying to get a refund?

What if someone use the Buy now option...

Comment