In an auction featuring memorabilia from the Beatles, Madonna and Elvis Presley, it was Michael Jackson who proved to be king, CNN informs.
The red and black jacket, winged shoulders and all, that the late pop star wore during his zombie-ridden “Thriller” video fetched a USD 1.8 million bid at this weekend’s Julien’s auction in Beverly Hills, California, according to the auctioneer’s website. The winning price was exponentially above the estimated bid of USD 200,000 to USD 400,000. Part of the proceeds will go toward the Shambala Preserve where Jackson’s two Bengal tigers, Thriller and Sabu, have been living the past five years.
Its sale came exactly two years after the then 50-year-old Jackson was killed by a surgical anesthetic called Propofol, which a Los Angeles coroner ruled killed the singer in combination with several sedatives found in his blood.
The jacket wasn’t the only piece of history from the late King of Pop that was part of the auction. The signature fedora Jackson wore during his Bad Tour was sold for USD 16,250, a handwritten note to friend Elizabeth Taylor went for USD 5,625 and a signed pillowcase fetched USD 3,584. And a bidder paid out USD 330,000 – more than 10 times what Julien’s had expected to get – for one of the famous, shiny, crystal-covered gloves that Jackson wore during the 1980s.
