CAREY BIDDING FOR JACKSON’S FURNITURE
MARIAH CAREY will be going head to head with royalty and super-rich MICHA EL JACKSON fans in a bid to land a sofa set the King of Pop commissioned for his This Is It stageshow at an auction in Las Vegas on Friday (25Jun1 0).
The pop superstar has asked interior designer to the stars Kenneth Bord ewick to bid on the item at a Julien’s Auction held on the anniversary of the Thriller singer’s death.
Ironically, Bordewick also advised Jackson on the furniture for his Lon don home - and flew to Italy to oversee the manufacture of the 22 items t hat craftsmen at Combustile custom made for the King of Pop.
He tells WENN, "Mariah is very interested in the sofa set, which is exp ected to fetch $150,000, but I think it’s more likely to go under the ham mer for $1 million.
"It was to be used onstage for Michael’s This Is It shows - it was craf ted using red-crushed velvet, 24-carat gold and Medici stones, or onyx as it’s more commonly known.
"It’s a monstrous piece, very Alice in Wonderland, with swags of silk o n the back." And Bordewick reveals Carey won’t be the only high roller bidding for t he furniture Jackson ordered for his Foxbury Manor mansion in England bef ore he passed away last year (Jun09) - the Sultan of Brunei wants a four chair and sofa item, a replica of a parlour set once owned by Tsar Nichol as II of Russia.
The two armchairs in the set are expected to fetch $60,000 (=C2=A340,00 0) each and the sofa, which features threads of 24-cart gold, is expected to go under the hammer on Friday for up to $60,000 (=C2=A340,000).
Both Carey and the Sultan are expected to bid for two Jackson-commissio ned ottomans.
It’s not the first time the Hero singer has dug deep for an icon’s home decor - she splashed out a whopping $662,000 (=C2=A3441,330) for Marilyn Monroe’s piano in 2004.
After purchasing the instrument at a Christie’s auction in New York, Ca rey said, "I could have gotten the Happy Birthday, Mr President dress or whatever, but that would have represented Marilyn Monroe’s stardom. The p iano belonged to her mother and was a piece of her childhood."
Movie & Entertainment News provided by World Entertainment News Network (www.wenn.com)
