Courtesy of Julien's Auctions

One of Michael Jackson's gloves

The King of Pop's personal items have found a new home thanks to the Queen-of-Pop-in-Waiting (at least until Madonna sends a cease-and-desist), Lady Gaga.

Last Sunday, Julien's Auctions in Beverly Hills raised more than $5 million (with some of the proceeds benefiting charity) during its auction of Michael Jackson's costumes and other memorabilia from "The Collection of Tompkins & Bush: Michael Jackson." Mother Monster and her acrylics snatched up 55 pieces worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"The 55 pieces I collected today will be archived & expertly cared for in the spirit & love of Michael Jackson, his bravery & fans worldwide," the singer tweeted. Lady Gaga also tweeted a picture of her auction paddle numbered 462.

As we wrote last week, the auction was held in conjunction with the exhibit, the bulk of which was made up of designs by Michael Bush and his late partner Dennis Tompkins, who worked with the icon on and off stage for nearly 25 years, in addition to other collectibles Bush had purchased over the years.

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Courtesy MOCA

From Taryn Simon's "A Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters"

This week's list includes a feisty auctioneer, art in a Metro station and a real-life Romeo and Juliet.

5. The last auction
Robert Berman has been running Santa Monica Auctions for going on three decades and has had the C2 building at Bergamot Station for nineteen years. At the end of the month, the space will be razed to make way for Metro's Expo line. This summer, thinking he would have to be out by September, he staged a final Bergamot auction but this weekend he's staging another "Last Goodbuy" auction, again with himself as gavel-wielding auctioneer. These are looser and lighter than auctions at Sotheby's and Christie's, the kind crime and law dramas love to re-stage, but they involve real money. 2525 Michigan Ave., Bergamot Station; C2, B7, Santa Monica; Nov. 11, 12 - 6:00 p.m. (310) 315.9506, smauctions.com.

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Jeff Maysh/ Coleman-Rayner

Graffiti artist Banksy suffered an embarrassing evening Monday as a number of his greatest works failed to sell at a prestigious Los Angeles auction house. While his aerosol-powered contemporaries enjoyed strong sales at British auctioneers Bonham's on Sunset Blvd, Banksy's spray-painted rats received few nibbles from buyers in Hollywood. Four of the artist's most famous works remain unsold.

"It's obviously disappointing when pieces don't sell," explains Bonham's urban art specialist, Gareth Williams. "I was surprised that the Gangsta Rat piece did not find a buyer," he admits, speaking of the iconic work chosen for the auction catalogue's front cover.

Williams said he believed the price was right, estimated at $100,000- $150,000, but suggested the storm in New York may have affected telephone bidding. (In art auctions, if the bidding does not reach a predetermined level, called a "reserve" price, it fails to sell.) Other Banksy pieces priced more affordably from $8,000 failed to receive many bids at all, and were met with that hideous indifference only found in auction sale rooms.

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Todd Cole, Courtesy of Center for the Art of Performance At UCLA

"Grab the nearest stranger..." Oh shit. Here we go.

This is how film director and artist Miranda July chose to begin her performance piece Auction last night at Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA's Freud Playhouse.

Where we were sitting, the nearest stranger didn't want to be touched, and the next-nearest stranger, a winsome elderly woman, was a little too cool with it.

July then proceeded to list all of the things that may or may not happen with this stranger, everything ranging from the possibility that we may end up dating one of their friends, to losing this person to the ravages of drug addiction. We were certain she had all of it wrong with our particular next-nearest stranger -- until she got to death. "This person may die soon..."

Double shit.

Then we had to sit there for the next 90 minutes thinking about how our nice elderly next-nearest stranger might actually get there sooner than everyone else in the room. July asked us all to squeeze that person who we'll one day let go of.

We'd already let go. Physically.

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Jewels Eubanks

Butch Cassidy's revolver, expected to sell for the cost of a private school education

By Jenny Lower

Back in October 1899, things were looking a little thin for Robert LeRoy Parker, a.k.a. Butch Cassidy. It was only a few months before a brand-new century. After years of cattle rustling, horse thieving, train hijacking, and bank robbing with his gang, the Wild Bunch, the bandit lifestyle was drying up. His friends were getting arrested or killed.

So the notorious outlaw contacted the governor of Utah to see about receiving amnesty. The governor said, fine -- as long as you haven't murdered anybody. Cassidy said he hadn't. And so, according to a court document, he "surrendered in good faith" his trusty Colt .45 Single Action Army revolver to the Juab County sheriff, Parley P. Christison. But the deal fell through. Amnesty was denied.

Disgusted, Cassidy lit out for New York and then Argentina, eventually making his way to Bolivia. He never got his gun back. Legend has it (at least according to the 1969 movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) that he died there with his friend, the Sundance Kid, in a hail of bullets from Bolivian police.

Now the infamous "Amnesty Colt," serial number 158402, will go up for auction Sept. 30 (with a public preview this afternoon) at California Auctioneers in Ventura. Held until now by a private collector in Ill., bidding is expected to wind up between $150,000 and $200,000.

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Gregory Dahl

Owner and auctioneer Robert Berman revs up the crowd

Johnny Cash's lyric "I hear the train a-comin'" best captures the mood at the Santa Monica Auctions farewell event, held June 9-10. Due to the planned extension of the MTA's Expo Line, the entire C Building at Bergamot Station -- home to Track 16, the Robert Berman Gallery and Santa Monica Auctions -- is set to be demolished. The event was dubbed the "Expo Auction," and attendees reflected on the demise of the live outdoor auction, held there annually for 18 years, with a swirl of mixed emotions.

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