Michael Jackson sale to go ahead despite lawsuit

A hotly anticipated auction of Michael Jackson memorabilia will go ahead as planned, organisers vowed, as they lifted the veil on a treasure trove of items from the eccentric pop icon's Neverland Ranch.

Martin Nolan, executive director of Julien's Auctions in Hollywood, said that despite legal action from Jackson's production company seeking to halt the April 22-25 sale, the auction would proceed.

"We're extremely confident that the auction will go ahead and we're very proud of the exhibition that we've set up here to show off these items," Nolan told AFP at a press preview of the sale.

Jackson lost the first round of a legal challenge earlier this month, when a Los Angeles judge dismissed an attempt to have the production company's contract with the auction house declared invalid.

A second court hearing, where the company is seeking an injunction to halt the sale, is to take place on Wednesday.

MJJ Productions claimed in a Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit filed last month that certain "priceless and irreplaceable" items due to go under the hammer April 22-25 had "extraordinary sentimental value."

According to MJJ Productions, Julien's was asked to take some goods from the house for sale, but these could not be put up for auction until Jackson had given his final consent to the inventory.

Meanwhile, Nolan said his company was expecting a flood of interest from members of the public as they prepare to hold an exhibition of the 1,390 weird and wonderful lots that are to go under the hammer next week.

"We're expecting to have a lot of people here," said Nolan. "We're aware of people flying in from all over the world -- Asia, Russia."

The vast collection, including items such as Jackson's iconic, jewel-encrusted glove and a customised Rolls Royce limousine -- featuring an interior finished in leather, walnut and 24 carat gold -- are among the Aladdin's Cave of mementos from Neverland which Nolan said could raise between 10 and 20 million dollars.

Jackson has not lived in the ranch, which is set on a secluded and sprawling estate in countryside north of Los Angeles, since his acquittal in 2005 on charges of abusing a minor at the property.

Jackson is currently preparing for a series of comeback concerts in London in July. Tickets sold out within hours when they went on sale.

Nolan said next week's auction represented the end of an era for Jackson.

"What we're doing with this exhibition is celebrating Michael's life and career to date," Nolan told AFP. "The auction of Neverland represents the closing of a particular chapter in his life.

Spread out across several halls on the site of a former department store, the Beverly Hills exhibition of Jackson items going under the hammer give a rare insight into the pop star's former life at Neverland.

Extraordinarily elaborate costumes, antique furniture, lifesize statues of superheroes and Star Wars villains, from Batman to Darth Vader, and a fully equipped computer game arcade are among the lots.

"It's a very diverse sale -- there's something for everyone in the sale from trains to castles to limousines," Nolan said.

"It was his Xanadu. And he walked away from it all."



A boy rides his bike at sunset in a park in Bucharest, Romania.AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda

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