Rare Michael Jackson portrait up for grabs

Australian painter-sculptor Brett-Livingstone Strong had persuaded the “Thriller” hitmaker to pose for him in 1990 - the one time Jackson ever sat for an artist's rendering. It shows the singer sitting in a room holding a book and wearing a frilled velvet jacket.

Dailystar.co.uk. reports that the portrait was first sold to Japanese businessman Hiromichi Saeki for a 1.4 million pounds the same year and was then acquired by toy inventor Marty Abrams in 1992 as payment for a debt owed by Hiromichi.

And now Abrams has listed the item on internet site eBay.com in an auction which will end on April 12. Abrams claims the portrait was valued at 3.5 million pounds in 2000, but is expected to bring even more at auction following the superstar's death last June.

"I've had it for an awful long time. With the positive response to his music and the movie about him after his death, we thought it was a good time to sell it and for the world to see it," the website quoted Abrams as saying.