Jacko's auction treasures now extra hot stuff

If you thought prices at the canceled auction in April for Michael Jackson's belongings were high -- $20,000 for one of the front gates to Jackson's Neverland Ranch -- the pop icon's death on Thursday will likely push the prices off the charts.

A Michael Jackson auction is a garage sale of the century, if it ever happens.

The auction set for April 22-25 in Beverly Hills was canceled a week earlier after Jackson's lawyers and the auction house agreed to settle and have the items returned to Jackson.

He had initially agreed to allow the sale of items taken from his home -- valued at $10 million -- but in March he filed a lawsuit seeking the return of some of the 2,000 personal items. A judge ruled the auction could continue as set, but both sides later reached an agreement.

A joint statement by both a Jackson spokesman and Julien's Auction House suggested that the items would be put in a museum for the public to view, and that putting them into the hands of private collectors wouldn't serve Jackson's fans.