Michael Jackson‘s famous red jacket that he wore in the music video for ‘Thriller’ was sold for $1.8 million at an auction on Sunday, the same weekend of the second anniversary of his death. I can’t believe that it’s been two years already since he passed away.
There is two versions of the jacket, this one that was sold has winged shoulders and was autographed by Jackson before he died and the other version is owned by the Michael Jackson estate. So who coughed up this amount of money for the jacket? Some Texas man called Milton Verret. Who said he is going to use the jacket for good use and send it on tour to be used for a fund-raising tool to help children’s charities make money.
The jacket was expected to make between $200,000 and $400,000 but obviously it went way over what they were expecting to get for it. Part of the proceeds will go to actress Tippi Hedren‘s Roar Foundation. This isn’t the first time that Milton has bought famous items, back in 2009 he paid $120,000 at an auction for a motorcycle that was worth $20,000 and signed by Jay Leno. He then also spent another $120,000 on eight “Big Guitars” during the 2009 GuitarTown charitable auction in Austin.
Marilyn Monroe‘s infamous subway dress from ‘The Seven-Year Itch’ made $4.6 million at an auction last week so I’m kind of shocked that the jacket didn’t sell for more. Buying celebrity memorabilia doesn’t really appeal to me mainly because I can’t even imagine being in the position to pay so much for something.
Would you pay so much for something like this?
[Click thumbnails for larger view]
   
Popularity: unranked [?]
Back when Leonardo DiCaprio was still on the pages of mags like Tiger Beat and Kate Winslet was a little-known British actress, there was a movie that brought both actors together for a life-changing experience — James Cameron’s disaster drama, ‘Titanic.’ The result became the highest-grossing movie of all time, a title only recently taken away by Cameron’s own ‘Avatar.’
Over the weekend, a famous prop from the blockbuster film — a nude drawing of Kate Winslet — was auctioned off.
The Telegraph reported the art was expected to rake in over $16,000. The drawing is sketched by DiCaprio’s character in the movie, but was actually drafted by James Cameron himself (those are even his hands at work — who knew?).
The drawing was up for grabs from movie memorabilia house Premiere Props, who sell items like Nic Cage’s used, sweaty wig from ‘Season of the Witch,’ but we imagine that far more movie fans were clamoring to get their hands on a nude Kate Winslet.
As if we need to remind you of the plot, in ‘Titanic’ Winslet plays 17-year-old socialite Rose, who survives the 1912 sinking of the passenger liner that struck an iceberg, killing almost 1,500 people. DiCaprio stars as Jack, a 20-year-old who doesn’t have a penny to his name but falls for the young girl who is engaged to a wealthy man almost twice her age.
It’s hard to talk about the “drawing scene” in the film — or the entire movie, really — without thinking of every pop culture parody that grew out of Jack and Rose’s melodramatic relationship, but it’s a tender moment that also plays into a big part of the storyline. After the couple make out for a bit, they head back to Rose’s suite where she shows him the Heart of the Ocean, a fancy-pants diamond necklace belonging to her fiancee, Cal (Billy Zane). Rose asks Jack to draw her wearing the necklace and nothing else. Eighty-four years later, the drawing helps a treasure hunter find Rose so he can learn her story.
Cue Celine Dion’s ‘My Heart Will Go On’ times infinity.
Popularity: unranked [?]
-
Celebrity Gossip linked with JORDANA BREWSTER in Maxim! And Other Gossip
The lingerie-inspired dress that a young Kate Middleton wore almost a decade ago sold at auction today for more than $125,000, reported People. The sheer dress is rumored to be what Middleton was wearing when she caught Prince William’s eye.
Middleton wore the dress in a 2002 St. Andrews University fashion show. The designer, Charlotte Todd, was also a student at the time and made the piece as part of her coursework.
Todd told People her assignment “was called ‘The Art of Seduction,’ which is quite apt, really. I didn’t know who Kate Middleton was and I didn’t put her in it. It was just pure chance!”
The dress, which cost less than $50 to make and was originally going to be a skirt, was displayed at the Kerry Taylor Auctions Passion for Fashion sale on Thursday among other haute couture dresses worn by Princess Diana. It sold for £78,000 (or $125,884).
“I’m thrilled,” Todd said. “Everyone says that the fashion show was when the romance started and when she bagged her prince, so a small part of me will always be part of royal history. It’s madness!”
RadarOnline.com reports the new owner of the dress hasn’t been identified and was bidding anonymously through a buyer. The buyer revealed that the bidder “thinks it’s an iconic piece and is very happy with the purchase.”
Popularity: unranked [?]
If you want a piece of ‘The Real Housewives of New Jersey,’ you’re in luck!
Teresa Giudice and her husband, who had filed for bankruptcy last October, are planning to sell their personal belongings in a public auction August 22.
According to bankruptcy court records, the pair have nearly $11 million in various debts, the New York Post reported. In papers filed in Newark Federal Court, the Guidices claim to only make $79,000 a year between the two of them, and are unable to handle the foreclosures and hefty credit card bills.
“It was a different economy back then for all of us. When the economy crashed, like most families, we tightened our belts and changed our lifestyle.”
The court document lists their money woes in detail:
► The bank has moved to foreclose on their $1.8 million home in Towaco, NJ.
► Banks have taken their Jersey Shore house along with another home in Lincoln Park, NJ.
► Teresa owes $12,000 to a fertility clinic.
► They’ve defaulted on payments for their Escalade.
► Joe personally owes $5 million to former partners of real estate deals.
The auction Website lists the details about items that will be for sale, which include a grand piano, two flat-screen televisions, sofas, decorative fireplace accessories, a Foosball table, a suit of armor and at least three chandeliers. Those items will be going up at auction on Aug. 22 at 12 p.m. at their Towaco, N.J., mansion.
The trustee, John Sywilok, has accused the pair of undervaluing items listed as personal property exempt from the bankruptcy filing, including a pool table ($1000) and even their wedding bands ($400).
On ‘Housewives,’ Giudice once spent $2,000 in a 10-minute shopping spree, but in bankruptcy papers she claims to spend $400 on clothes a month. The court papers list Joe’s monthly income at the stucco and stone company he owes at $3,250. Teresa earns $3,333 from Bravo, and she recently released a cook book, ‘Skinny Italian.’
Popularity: unranked [?]
Once upon a time music producer Scott Storch was once said to be worth $70 million, money he earned by producing records for Christina Aguilera, Brooke Hogan and Beyonce among others.
But Storch’s penchant for high living has gotten him in trouble. For the last year or so he’s been struggling to hold on to his home on Miami’s Palm Island. TMZ reports that the battle is at an end.
Storch defaulted on the property last July but then declared bankruptcy. Now the bankruptcy order has been dismissed and SunTrust bank, which held two mortgages worth a combined $7.75 million against the property, bought the property back at auction on Friday for $5.5 million. Storch has said that he lost money during a period of time when he was addicted to cocaine and he went into rehab earlier this year.
Fitting punishment for unleashing Brooke Hogan on the world — and for being friends with the human waste, Brandon Davis.
source: Storch Waves Goodbye to His Waterfront Home [TMZ]
Popularity: unranked [?]
A rare stamp portraying movie star Audrey Hepburn smoking sold for $93,800 at an auction in Germany Tuesday. Both buyer and seller were anonymous.
Only five copies of the 2001 stamp are known to exist.
The print run was ordered destroyed after Hepburn’s son, Sean Ferrer, objected to the cigarette holder dangling from the “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” star’s mouth and refused to grant copyright.
Thirty proof copies escaped incineration. Most probably ended up in the trash can, but a few have wound up in the hands of collectors.
“We can only guess that whoever took the Hepburn stamps from Deutsche Post didn’t realize their value, thought they would save 55 cents and just used them on normal letters,” auctioneer Andreas Schlegel said.
Hepburn died of colon cancer in 1993. Her son said he hoped the stamp seller would use his windfall to benefit cancer research or an anti-smoking campaign.
Simply ridiculous… people are homeless!
source: Audrey Hepburn stamp fetches $93,000 at auction [ny daily news]
Popularity: unranked [?]
A nude photo of ex-model and current French First Lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, is going up for sale. And, no, it’s not of the scandalous “stolen camera”/ex-boyfriend variety.
“Carla Bruni in Bed” — a tasteful black and white image captured by the soft and feminine lens of legendary photographer Pamela Hanson in 1994 — depicts the then model with nothing more than white sheets strategically covering her nether regions.
According to The Daily Beast, one of the ten numbered prints went up for auction on June 4 at Villa Grisebach Auktionen, a Berlin auction house, with bids starting at $3,380.
Last year’s Bruni in the buff photo sold for a whopping $91,000 at a New York auction, but this photo didn’t generate quite as much cash, selling for $19,600 to an anonymous bidder.
The real question is whether hubby and French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, was the anonymous bidder. Would he outbid everyone to take home what he gets to see everyday for free?
Popularity: unranked [?]
In a true sign of the times, the art world’s current downturn has been bucked by a dead artist unlike any other before or after him—namely, ADOLF HITLER.
In a move straight from the WTF?!? Files, the murderous dead German dictator has made a significant posthumous move in the art world by managing to earn nearly $12,000 USD last week when 15 of his original watercolors—including the self-portrait from 1910 seen here—were put up for auction at MULLOCK’S.
The watercolor was one of 15 items of Hitler art being sold at auction. Together, the artworks by the Nazi leader fetched almost $120,000.
They had expected to raise just under $50,000, auction house Mullock’s of Shropshire estimated.
Many of the pictures were on the market because one of the sellers wanted money to install a new central heating system in his house, a spokesman for the auction house said.
Richard Westwood-Brookes, a historical documents expert at Mullock’s said,
“The watercolors came from a collector who is a regular vendor of ours. He’d forgotten about them for years. He found them in his garage.”
He refused to disclose the identity of the seller, as a matter of policy.
Thirteen watercolors were expected to fetch $580 to $2,200 apiece, while the lone small oil painting was estimated at up to $30,000, the auctioneer estimates.
All of the watercolors shattered expectations — 12 of them selling for between $4,400 and $9,000.
The remaining watercolor — a 1910 painting showing a figure sitting on a stone bridge — fetched almost $15,000. There has been speculation that the figure was a depiction of Hitler himself.
Popularity: unranked [?]
In April, an extraordinary auction will provide an unprecedented look into the private world of Michael Jackson.
More than 2,000 items, ranging from personal effects and costumes to pieces from Jackson’s private art collection as well as fittings and furnishings from his Neverland ranch, will be up for sale at a four-day public auction at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles.
A portrait of Michael Jackson dressed as a king, oil on canvas, signed and dated 1995 and housed in an elaborate gold frame. Guide price $4,000-$6,000.
A pair of Michael Jackson’s Triumph-era socks with uppers covered in rhinestone banding. They date back to his 1981 Triumph tour with the Jacksons. Guide price $600-$800.
A robotic Michael Jackson head featured at the climax of his 1988 film Moonwalker, when he transforms into a robot and defeats Joe Pesci’s evil character, Mr Big. Guide price $2,000-$3,000.
An electric cart featuring an image of Jackson as Peter Pan on the bonnet and Peter Pan cushions. Guide price $4,000-$6,000.
The prop ‘scissorhand’ gloves that Johnny Depp wore in Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands. Stan Winston, the visual effects artist for the film, worked with Jackson on the 1997 short film Ghosts. Guide price $4,000-$6,000.
A fire engine tea kettle with moving wheels. Guide price $100-$200.
Ok, so I totally want the Edward Scissorhands.
Popularity: unranked [?]
Natalie Dylan, the 22-year-old girl auctioning off her virginity, will potentially rake in $3.8 million for the sale of her innocence.
Dennis Hof, owner of the Moonlite Bunny Ranch in Nevada, who is facilitating the auction, reported that so far the auction is going very, very well.
“We have offers from $1 million to $3.8 million, and we have started collecting deposits.â€
BUT the highest bidder won’t necessarily win Natalie’s heart, and virginity. Natalie claims she won’t do the deed with just anyone, but hopes to find someone who “seems intelligent.†Although her personal top pick, Barack Obama, has not placed a bid, Natalie has some excellent potential first-time partners.
[Click thumbnails for a larger view]
 
Dennis said, “There are a few people she likes. She has been e-mailing and talking on the phone with several men. She wants to be comfortable.†With the possible $3.8 million Natalie could receive, surely she will be more than comfortable.
I’ve filed this under “Celebrity Crime” and “Celebrities on Drugs”. One, you’d have to be really high to auction off your virginity — and it should be illegal.
source: Girl Selling Her Virginity Will Get Up To $3.8 Million [scandalist]
Popularity: unranked [?]
|
