EXCLUSIVE: Neverland Valley Ranch Contents May End Up On Auction Block
June 26 2009, Published 3:37 p.m. ET
Michael Jackson had agreed in 2008 to auction off the contents of his Neverland Valley Ranch, and hired high profile Julien’s Auctions to clean out the estate and its grounds, catalogue the contents and conduct the sale. But as was often the case with Michael, he changed his mind at the last minute and cancelled the sale.
He eventually agreed to allow Julien’s to hold a two-week long exhibit in Beverly Hills did give Jackson fans an opportunity to, if not own a piece of music history, the chance to at least see it.
“We returned everything to Michael immediately after the exhibit in April,” Darren Julien told RadarOnline.com exclusively. “It is still in storage.”
Julien said that in all of his conversations with Michael, the singer was “coherent and logical, and his greatest concern was his fans.”
What will happen now to the millions of dollars worth of costumes, artwork and even the gates to Neverland Valley Ranch? “Under the right circumstances, I would agree to undertake the auction again,” Julien said.
The ranch property itself was co-owned by Jackson and Colony Capital, which bought out Michael’s $23 million mortgage last year just as the property was about to go into foreclosure. The 2,500 acre ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley area of Santa Barbara (CA) County has an assessed value of $27 million.