NBC-4 in Southern California have broadcast a report on their news program and published an accompanying story on their official site looking into claims made by third parties that items offered for sale by Julien’s Auctions, sourced from Michael Jackson’s costume designer Michael Bush, feature Michael Jackson autographs that are not authentic.
The news team had two third party experts, authenticator Roger Epperson and firm PSA/DNA examine some of the autographs from material sold in the December 2nd sale (“Icons & Idols – The Collection of Tompkins and Bush/Michael Jackson”), which produced negative results; Julien’s Auctions and Michael Bush maintain that the autographs are authentic, but have offered to refund buyers who are not confident in their purchases.
The full article and video (also embedded below) can be found at www.NBClosangeles.com (see “Investigation: Autographed Michael Jackson Memorabilia May Be Phony”):
An additional report on this story was published by Autograph Magazine Live! yesterday (see “NBC News Investigates Julien’s Auction’s Michael Jackson Autograph Scandal”). In that article, Steve Cyrkin states that “since mid-November, as fans, dealers and collectors alike told Julien’s CEO, Darren Julien, that almost all of the autographs in the sale were obvious forgeries” and that “[o]nly one dealer has supported Julien’s: Todd Mueller, of Todd Mueller Autographs…”
Jason DeBord