LAS VEGAS – Workers pulled glittery suits and platinum records out of cardboard boxes Sunday in preparation for what’s being called the largest auction of Jackson family memorabilia ever.
Auction staff unpacked and displayed more than 1,100 lots, including rhinestone-studded costumes, faded documents and other mementos at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. The items are expected to fetch millions of dollars from bidders around the globe Wednesday and Thursday.
“This really is a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence,” said Arlan Ettinger, president of auction house Guernsey’s. “I cannot imagine that somewhere down the road some other collection could come out of the woodwork and rival this. It’s not going to happen.”
There’s a Bill Whitten-designed militaristic red coat with gold rope that belonged to Michael Jackson, and a 1987 contract detailing his $30 million purchase of the California ranch that became the infamous “Neverland.”
There’s also a frilly pink “Mae West” dress worn by Janet Jackson at age 8 during family performances at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in 1974.
In a worn telegram from July 6, 1984, Marlon Brando encourages Michael Jackson before a show: “Please try not to make an (expletive) of yourself and please for God’s sakes don’t fall in the orchestra pit.”
The items are to go on sale following a court battle that ended two weeks ago when Michael Jackson’s lawyers reached a confidential settlement and dropped an effort to block the auction.
Richard Altomare, chief executive of Universal Express Inc., the Boca Raton, Fla., luggage transportation company that owns the items, said Jackson’s lawyers settled when they were convinced he had no legal claim to the goods.
Jackson, 48, has been living in Las Vegas planning his comeback after his 2005 acquittal in California on child molestation charges.
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