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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 Wendy Christine on December 3, 2012 at 1:12am

YES YES YES. :)))

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Permalink Reply by Helen on December 3, 2012 at 6:56am

On this point you need to read the next paragraph on the Bravado website: they were clearly contracted to produce the merchandise for the O2 shows BEFORE August and the deal with the estate was on the back of that. Can we be 100% sure that the standee wasn't part of the AEG merchandising for the show?

Please, please guys, you are Michael's true blood hounds and your work is amazing, but this needs to be absolutely watertight. As fans we have such an uphill battle to be taken seriously that we have to have our facts absolutely straight.

To introduce myself, hi all! Newbie here but long-time MJ fan and alerted to the debate by Justin on FB. I've not got involved much yet (except for getting myself blocked by Julien's for asking innocent questions about why the autograph might look so different...), but I'm appalled by this blatant fraud and want to work with you guys any way I can to make sure they don't get away with it.

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Permalink Reply by TeamMichael777 on December 3, 2012 at 9:20pm

Helen, LAGear is its own trademark, AEG would not be able to use LAGear, and would NOT want to, AEG's contract would only be for This it it, not any MJ merchandise, if that was the case, Estate would not have entered into its own agreement with Bravado, These standees were made after Michael passed, that is a fact, i have looked into this and confirmed it with a few people in the right places, im not going to note here who, as this is an open group, bottom line is, Bush will be going to jail for a long time!!

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Permalink Reply by Helen on December 3, 2012 at 11:56pm

ok, wow. THANK you!! This does look like we have the smoking gun. Wow!!!

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on December 4, 2012 at 4:19am

TM777,

Please be careful about comments like the jail one. Bush would have to be arrested, found guilty and sentenced first and getting law enforcement interested in anything in our hobby is like pulling teeth.

Thanks

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Permalink Reply by TeamMichael777 on December 4, 2012 at 8:57pm

yes sir

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on December 4, 2012 at 4:21am

But if these particular standees were produced after MJ died, some people have a lot to explain.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on December 3, 2012 at 6:23am

Triumph cold have been operating while suspended, in some capacity.

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Permalink Reply by MJ-fan-1965 on December 3, 2012 at 9:01am

Triumph is/was Michael Jackson. He owned it. The licensing however had lapsed for quite a few years (as did many of the licenses/logos/trademarks etc.) The MJ Estate (John Branca & law firm) filed for re-licensing for Triumph and that wasn't granted until August of 2009. I rather doubt that they would print up merchandise that says 2009 Triumph International Inc. under license from Bravado... if they weren't yet re-licensed? http://www.seeglobalentertainment.com/partners/triumph-international/

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Permalink Reply by Helen on December 3, 2012 at 7:52am

Very interesting.

Even assuming this standee was produced before July and an advance copy reached Michael for approval, this gives us a pretty narrow range for (at least one of) the supposed signing sessions. Did Michael go to Klein's or stay over at Bush's during that time?

Or do Juliens/Bush have a new explanation for the autographs now? Last we heard they weren't using that story anymore, were they?

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on December 3, 2012 at 8:52am

A copy for approval would not be production printed, so a different printing process would be visible under close examination. An approval copy would be printed on a large format inkjet printer. It's easy to tell the difference.

It's very important to get the standee facts before assuming that they are a smoking gun. Did I hear there was a signed one with a 2010 copyright date?