Michael's $1.5M 'Gone With the Wind' Oscar Is Missing

Bubs

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Michael Jackson's $1.5M 'Gone With the Wind' Oscar Is Missing

The pop test star paid a record price for the statuette, but his estate can't figure out what happened to it.

When Michael Jackson died unexpectedly in 2009 at age 50, the executors of his estate began taking inventory of the mountains of valuable (and often bizarre) assets the entertainer had left behind. But one prized Jackson possession eluded their investigation: the best picture Oscar awarded to legendary producer David O. Selznick for the 1939 classic Gone With the Wind. Jackson, a movie buff throughout his life, had purchased the Academy Award in 1999, paying $1.54 million in a Sotheby's auction (the 1940 Oscar was awarded before there were rules against selling them), still the most ever shelled out for a golden statuette. (Before the auction, the sellers had estimated its worth at a mere $300,000.)

Jackson is presumed to have kept the Oscar at either his Neverland estate near Ojai, Calif., or at the Los Angeles home where he was living when he died. But the Oscar was not found among his belongings, according to the estate. A Jackson family member might have absconded with the trophy, it might simply be hidden and unaccounted for in a storage facility with other possessions, or it might have been stolen during the commotion surrounding his death. Regardless, if it does show up, Jackson's executors will be waiting to reclaim it.

"The estate does not know where the Gone With the Wind statuette is," Jackson attorney Howard Weitzman tells THR. "We would like to have that Oscar because it belongs to Michael's children. I'm hopeful it will turn up at some point."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/michael-jacksons-15m-gone-wind-867610
 
I wonder what about the other Oscar that MJ had?

Snippet from bodyguards book:
"It was heavy. I took it home, put it on the table in my living room. All night, I just kept looking at the thing. Mystery briefcase. Like out of the movies of something. I wanted to open it. I was dying to know what was inside. At the same time, I wanted no part of whatever it was. But if I was going to be going through airport security with this thing, crossing state lines, I decided I had to find out. I opened it. Inside were two Academy Awards. At first, they just looked like generic Oscar statues; I'd never seen one up close. But then I looked more closely at them, and they both had Gone with the Wind on them. One was for Best Picture."
 
The Selznick Oscar is probably the creme de la creme of all Oscars. I wonder what the other one is for.
Maybe the estate has the other one.
 
Karen Faye said on twitter that Thome Thome started cleaning Neverland Ranch during the This Is It preparations without Michael knowing it. I know she can be little crazy sometimes and that she is not the most credible source but this one sounds very plausible. I think they should check Thome's suitcases.
 
I think it's with a family member.

again, wouldn't they know??? if a family member has it, wouldn't they tell the estate that it's not missing?? if it belongs to his children, a family member would hide it from them? :huh:
 
I'm sure it wouldn't be "missing" if it was sold. they would know
The family would hardly tell the estate if they stole something and sold it. Im not really thinking they have just been ironic as they have taken mjs things in the past and sold them . They would be pretty stupid to selll something so tracable. Someone has it staff/family etc etc
 
again, wouldn't they know??? if a family member has it, wouldn't they tell the estate that it's not missing?? if it belongs to his children, a family member would hide it from them? :huh:

Not necessarily.

We are talking about a family that walked into his house hours after his death and took off with things that were sold off soon after.

This is also a family that has members who are so against Michael's Estate that they are still contesting his will!

A family that gave up restitution from Murrary for big bucks - in other words a family that is greedy.

So hell yeah, they would give an inventory to the Estate of all the things they raided from Michael's house in the days following his death.
 
Well, if someone still has it, now it is nearly impossible to sell it because it is known that MJ owned it and it disappeared from his belongings, unless it already sold a few years back to some collector that keeps it under the wraps in his private collection.


"Jackson is presumed to have kept the Oscar at either his Neverland estate near Ojai, Calif., or at the Los Angeles home where he was living when he died. But the Oscar was not found among his belongings, according to the estate."

According to bodyguards, MJ kept it with him all the time, so it doesn't seem to be like it was left to NL, so more likely that he had it in his LV house.
 
I really hope the Estate is able to get it back. I'm confident they will use all the resources they have.

If someone did indeed steal it... :throwingstones:
 
Not necessarily.

We are talking about a family that walked into his house hours after his death and took off with things that were sold off soon after.

This is also a family that has members who are so against Michael's Estate that they are still contesting his will!

A family that gave up restitution from Murrary for big bucks - in other words a family that is greedy.

So hell yeah, they would give an inventory to the Estate of all the things they raided from Michael's house in the days following his death.

You took the words right out of my mouth i was about to say this. When Michael close his eyes it was open season in his house sad.:no:
 
My bet is Latoya stole it. Wasn't she one of his sibs that raided his home after he died, bringing a moving truck with them? I remember reading that large amounts of cash Mike had on hand was missing, too. It's a damn shame! I've seen first hand how family picks over the belongings of the dead before the body gets cold.
 
Paris sold it for a pack of smokes.

People getting fired up to read you the riot act in 3, 2, 1...

Spray%20milk%20Asian%20dude_zpspgvm7nqs.gif
 
gone with the wind...

Perhaps they gave it to Leo, after altering the names and stuff on it :p Ok, lame joke that will take the thread in O/T turf, but I can't think of a more appropriate thread where to post these next few images. Leo's victory at the Oscars is thattt great. I guess the age of the memes is finally over. All the struggles make his victory even sweeter, right? Nice to see all that icy weather and snow didn't really hurt him, but turned into a good luck charm.

15.jpg


More funny ones are here http://www.bollywoodlife.com/news-gossip/these-9-memes-broke-the-internet-as-soon-as-leonardo-dicaprio-won-the-academy-award-for-the-revenant-view-pics/

leonardo-dicaprio-oscar-adele-song.jpg


and I guess they finally did :D

leo-funn-1.jpg


And what an awesome speech that was. Not only is he a truly great actor who deserved this award long ago, but he is also an amazing environmental activist. I've appreciated for quite a few years now his sincere dedication to climate change awareness-raising. Not to mention that his Twitter account is one of the most efficient out there, especially with regards to these most important issues. Whether on the floor of the UN General Assembly or giving victory speeches at the Golden Globes or the Oscars, he's always great. I'm convinced he will carry on both with the awesome acting and the environmental and social justice commitment. Bless him!!!

In NaughtyLand, where I'm from, things go a bit slower than in the rest of the universe, so it took a while to find out about Leo's win. Same as the SuperBowl I had even forgotten about the ceremony, but strangely enough a couple of days ago I ran into some FunnyWow pictures I made a few years ago which featured Leo holding a couple of very special images. I guess it was a sign of sorts lol. I tend to run into old images a lot these days, so much so it's turning into a habit.

Oh and before the O/T people come after me :hijacked I betta wrap this up and try to bring it back on track. What was the thread about again? Oh yeah, Mike's missing Oscar.......I bet it will pop up just as suddenly as it spoofed away lol.
 
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Perhaps they gave it to Leo, after altering the names and stuff on it :p Ok, lame joke that will take the thread in O/T turf, but I can't think of a more appropriate thread where to post these next few images. Leo's victory at the Oscars is thattt great. I guess the age of the memes is finally over. All the struggles make his victory even sweeter, right? Nice to see all that icy weather and snow didn't really hurt him, but turned into a good luck charm.

15.jpg


More funny ones are here http://www.bollywoodlife.com/news-g...the-academy-award-for-the-revenant-view-pics/

leonardo-dicaprio-oscar-adele-song.jpg


and I guess they finally did :D

leo-funn-1.jpg


And what an awesome speech that was. Not only is he a truly great actor who deserved this award long ago, but he is also an amazing environmental activist. I've appreciated for quite a few years now his sincere dedication to climate change awareness-raising. Not to mention that his Twitter account is one of the most efficient out there, especially with regards to these most important issues. Whether on the floor of the UN General Assembly or giving victory speeches at the Golden Globes or the Oscars, he's always great. I'm convinced he will carry on both with the awesome acting and the environmental and social justice commitment. Bless him!!!

In NaughtyLand, where I'm from, things go a bit slower than in the rest of the universe, so it took a while to find out about Leo's win. Same as the SuperBowl I had even forgotten about the ceremony, but strangely enough a couple of days ago I ran into some FunnyWow pictures I made a few years ago which featured Leo holding a couple of very special images. I guess it was a sign of sorts lol. I tend to run into old images a lot these days, so much so it's turning into a habit.

Oh and before the O/T people come after me :hijacked I betta wrap this up and try to bring it back on track. What was the thread about again? Oh yeah, Mike's missing Oscar.......I bet it will pop up just as suddenly as it spoofed away lol.


I didn't watch the show, but my sister let me know (via Facebook) that he won and I literally SCREAMED like I won, lol! He's been robbed so many times of one.

Congrats to Leo and if he has Mike's Oscar, he'd better give it BACK since he has one of his own now. :lmao: ;)
 
I want to know who sold the GWTW Oscar at Sotheby's.

From BBC News, June 13, 1999:

Superstar Michael Jackson paid a record sum to own a coveted Oscar.

BBC New York Correspondent Jane Hughes reports from the pre-sale viewing

The Thriller star paid $1.54m at auction to own the Best Film Oscar awarded to producer David O Selznick for Gone With The Wind.

Bidding by telephone and through an agent, the bid swept away the previous record for Hollywood memorabilia - a mere $607,000 for Clark Gable's best actor Oscar for his role in the 1934 film It Happened One Night.

And the Jackson bid was five times more than the highest pre-sale estimated price at the New York Sotheby's auction.

A Sotheby's spokesman said the purchase had fulfilled Michael Jackson's "lifelong desire to own that particular object".

But the singer, who made his millions with worldwide hits like Billie Jean, Thriller and Ben, only realised his ambition after a protracted duel with another telephone bidder.

Dana Hawkes, Sotheby's memorabilia and collectibles specialist, said: "It's just one of those objects where the sky is the limit.

"I had no idea that it was going to go as high as it did."
 
^^Thanks Dewey. Still doesn't say who was auctioning it. I wonder if it was another collector or did Selznick's sons still own it? I'm just curious.

As I said before, this would be the most important Oscar of all time to a film buff.
 
Oh, I gotcha now. :laugh: Don't know if I can find that, but I'll try.
 
Oh, I gotcha now. :laugh: Don't know if I can find that, but I'll try.
ha. You're so sweet-Im just curious.
I really love Selznick. His biography was one of the first I remember just pouring over and studying back in middle school after I read GWTW. I've read several great ones since. An extreme workaholic and perfectionist.

He spent the rest of his life trying to make the next GWTW. He made great movies after GWTW, but the critics and public always compared his work to the phenomenon of that one movie.

Much like the way critics compare everything Michael ever did later to Thriller. Everything that came later was considered a "failure".
 
I did find the Sotheby's catalog for this auction for sale, thinking maybe it would have info on who provided the Oscar for auction, but I'd have to buy it to find out. Not sure at all if Sotheby's has to provide those details, either.

GWTWCover.jpg
 
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