Portrait of Michael Jackson offered for $5.4m

Last year a painting of the late, pop star Michael Jackson by legendary artist Andy Warhol sold for over $1m in New York, courtesy of the Vered Gallery, having previously been sold at Sotheby's.

Now a painting of the star by Australian artist Brett-Livingstone Strong has come on the market, with a less illustrious auction house but an even higher price tag.

Entitled The Book, the was work was sold to Hiromichi Saeki Corp 1989-90 for $2.1m. By comparison, the Warhol work was sold for $287,000 in May 2009, shortly before the singer's untimely death.

For this reason the auctioneer organiser feels justified in offering the work with a starting bid of $2.75m. Alternatively, it can be bought outright for $5.4m.

The Book shows Jackson at his Neverland Ranch in a characteristic red velvet jacket, holding a journal. The seller is believed to be one Marty Abrams, a toy inventor who has held the work for 17 years.

The Book by Brett-Livingstone Strong

Alwaysmalibu18 is the name of the eBay account offering the piece. They have 100% positive feedback, which frankly the least one would require before committing to a bid on this scale. As always, we encourage caution when buying through eBay.

If the work does sell in the price range which the current owner intends, it still won't be the highest valued art work associated with Jackson. That would be a sculpture by Jeff Koons.

The work depicts Jackson with Bubbles the monkey, and has been estimated to be worth up to $25m by Alberto Mugrabi, a New York art dealer.

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