Cast your mind back to 1983 for a second, when some young musician named Michael Jackson decided to change the face of musical history when he debuted his legendary moonwalk during the Motown 25: Yesterday, Today and Forever TV special. Well how would you like to own the shoes with which he use to practice this piece of history?
As The Fader reports, GWS Auctions are getting ready to put Michael Jackson’s famous loafers under the hammer on May 26th, where they will undoubtedly be sold for a rather large amount of money.
As Brigitte Kruse, a curator working with GWS Auctions explained, the shoes were worn by Michael Jackson during the rehearsals for the Motown 25 and have been kept in storage ever since.
“Anything related to Michael Jackson is extraordinary, and to have something so incredibly historical as these shoes worn by Michael when he first did that now famous moonwalk is beyond special.”
“The shoes were given to choreographer and dancer Lester Wilson by Jackson after rehearsing with his brothers,” Kruse noted. “The bidding is already well over $10,000,” though it is expected to go much higher.
The pair of Florsheim Imperial leather shoes are rather well-worn, as you might expect, and feature the words ‘Michael #2’ on the shoe’s tongue. Kruse also noted that the shoes have been examined by several experts to verify their authenticity, so you can be sure that the buyer will be getting the real deal when the auctioneer’s hammer comes down.
Of course, this isn’t the first time that a rare piece of Michael Jackson memorabilia has gone up for sale, with an unreleased album by The King Of Pop being put up for auction back in July. Presented on a burnt CDr bearing the name ‘Bible’, the album contained twelve tracks, three of which were released on Jackson’s posthumous album Monster, while the other three were never previously released.
At the time, bidding was to begin at $50,000 (and expected to reach $1 million), though it was soon reverted to a private auction and its fate has since been unknown.
If you want to check out Michael Jackson’s famous shoes (and maybe even put down some of your own hard-earned cash on them), keep an eye on the GWS Auctions website in the coming weeks.
Check out Michael Jackson’s legendary moonwalk:
