Los Angeles:
Personal effects from Michael Jackson's last home were put on display , ahead of an auction of the contents of the Los Angeles mansion where he died in 2009.
The items from the rented six-bedroom mansion include a mirror on which the singer wrote a motivating message to himself, and an ornament with a message from one his children, who scrawled "I (heart) Daddy."
"It's a love affair with Michael Jackson," said Martin Noland, executive director of Julien's Auctions, which also handled the sale of the contents of Jackson's Neverland ranch in 2008.
"All over the world, from China, Japan, everywhere in the world, people desperately want something. They're very nostalgic. They want a memory. Michael has gone, they want to cling on to something tangible," he added.
Jackson died in the mansion in the exclusive Holmby Hills district on June 25, 2009, from an overdose of powerful sedatives given to help him sleep after rehearsals as he prepared for a series of planned comeback shows in London.
His doctor Conrad Murray was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, and sentenced this month to the maximum four
years in jail.
The contents of 100 North Carolwood Drive mansion are being sold at auction by the owners of the home rented to Jackson, and were never owned by the star himself.
But several items will draw particular attention to Jackson fans: including a mirror on which he had written, in an apparent message to motivate himself in the months leading up to the London concerts: "Train, perfection, March, April, Full out (underlined) May" with a doodle of a circle Another is an elaborate ornament with a small blackboard on front, on which one of his children had scrawled: "Love daddy, I (heart) you daddy, Smile, it's for Free."
Auction house chief Darren Julien downplayed the fact that Jackson did not own the items himself.
"These are items that surrounded Michael and his family the last year of their lives together," he said, noting that his auction house secured record prices for items from Marilyn Monroe's last rented home in Brentwood in 1962.
One item withdrawn from the sale, announced last month, is the headboard of the bed in which Jackson died, after the Jackson family objected to the sale of what would have become morbid memorabilia of the late King of Pop.
The items from the rented six-bedroom mansion include a mirror on which the singer wrote a motivating message to himself, and an ornament with a message from one his children, who scrawled "I (heart) Daddy."
"It's a love affair with Michael Jackson," said Martin Noland, executive director of Julien's Auctions, which also handled the sale of the contents of Jackson's Neverland ranch in 2008.
"All over the world, from China, Japan, everywhere in the world, people desperately want something. They're very nostalgic. They want a memory. Michael has gone, they want to cling on to something tangible," he added.
Jackson died in the mansion in the exclusive Holmby Hills district on June 25, 2009, from an overdose of powerful sedatives given to help him sleep after rehearsals as he prepared for a series of planned comeback shows in London.
His doctor Conrad Murray was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, and sentenced this month to the maximum four
years in jail.
The contents of 100 North Carolwood Drive mansion are being sold at auction by the owners of the home rented to Jackson, and were never owned by the star himself.
But several items will draw particular attention to Jackson fans: including a mirror on which he had written, in an apparent message to motivate himself in the months leading up to the London concerts: "Train, perfection, March, April, Full out (underlined) May" with a doodle of a circle Another is an elaborate ornament with a small blackboard on front, on which one of his children had scrawled: "Love daddy, I (heart) you daddy, Smile, it's for Free."
Auction house chief Darren Julien downplayed the fact that Jackson did not own the items himself.
"These are items that surrounded Michael and his family the last year of their lives together," he said, noting that his auction house secured record prices for items from Marilyn Monroe's last rented home in Brentwood in 1962.
One item withdrawn from the sale, announced last month, is the headboard of the bed in which Jackson died, after the Jackson family objected to the sale of what would have become morbid memorabilia of the late King of Pop.
