Michael Jackson to auction personal items, artworks

One of Michael Jackson's Billie Jean-era white gloves and the wrought iron gates of his Neverland Ranch are among the 2,000 lots the former King of Pop is putting up for sale in a massive auction next spring.

Auctioneer Darren Julien of Los Angeles-based Julien Auctions revealed on Wednesday details of the upcoming sale, billed as the first Jackson himself has ever held.

Myriad items of Jackson's personal memorabilia and works from his art collection are slated to cross the block.

Highlights are scheduled to tour to several international cities before returning to Los Angeles for a weeklong exhibition.

The sale itself will run April 21-25 in Beverly Hills and is scheduled for broadcast online and on a U.S. auction TV channel.

The catalog — the detailed list of all the items up for sale — is also a major production. It is available for $100 US a copy, with a signed, limited-edition version on sale for $500 US.

A portion of the auction proceeds is earmarked for the Musicares charity, which offers personal, financial and medical support to people in the music industry.

Jackson lives as recluse

Since being acquitted of child molestation charges in June 2005, Jackson has been living as a recluse away from his Neverland Ranch estate in southern California.

However, financial woes have followed him at every turn, including legal battles with former business associates and creditors.

Most recently, Jackson reached an out-of-court settlement with Sheik Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa, prince of the Gulf nation of Bahrain. The singer fled there following his 2005 trial and was, at one point, said to be working on a new album there.

Last year, the singer tried to block a similar Guernsey's auction of Jackson family memorabilia that his parents lost in a legal dispute with a former business partner.