The red and black leather jacket Michael Jackson wore in his iconic 1983 music video “Thriller” was sold over two years after his death for $1.8 million on Sunday, June 26 during the Music Icons auction at Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills.
The Associated Press reports that the jacket was sold to Milton Verret, a commodities trader from Austin, Texas who plans to use it as a fundraising tool for children’s charities.
The “Thriller” jacket was initially expected to go for as much as $400,000 at auction. The bidding began at $100,000. Last year, an album of previously unreleased music, “Michael,” sold 3 million copies worldwide.
The singer, dubbed the King of Pop, died on June 25, 2009 at age 50. “Thriller” is regarded as one of the most famous music videos of all time and is part of the U.S. National Film Registry.
Other items worn by Jackson, as well as signed photographs of the singer, were sold at the auction, which was announced earlier this month and took place on June 26. Among them – the MTV Video Music Award for Best Choreography that was given for the “Thriller” video. It was sold for $50,000 and had a starting bid of $8,000.
The “Thriller” jacket is one of two that Jackson owned and wore during the filming of “Thriller.” The other is on display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, on loan from the Estate of Michael Jackson, auction house Julien’s Auctions said.
This jacket was given by Jackson to his longtime costume designers Dennis Tompkins and Michael Bush, “or just “Bush” as Michael called him,” it said, adding: “When he first brought it to them, they reportedly asked if he could really dance freely in the jacket, to which Jackson incredulously replied, “Have you seen the video for ‘Thriller’?”
A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the jacket is set to go to the Shambala Preserve, located near Los Angeles, where Jackson’s two Bengal tigers, Thriller and Sabu, have been living since 2006, when Jackson left Neverland Ranch.
Source: OnTheRedCarpet.com
