The estate of Michael Jackson has succeeded in preventing the sale of rare recordings of music he never officially released. Auction house Gotta Have Rock and Roll was planning to sell 20 tapes recorded by the artist in New York in 1994. The company promoted the material as original and rare, saying the tracks were made before Jackson's 2009 death at the age of 50. It assigned a $4,000 value to each one. Lawyers acting on behalf of the Jackson estate threatened legal action, insisting the recordings were "stolen without question." Auctioneers refused to withdraw the music, prompting a Supreme Court challenge filed on 13 December. The court ordered the sale to be halted and an investigation to be launched. The tapes have been classified as "artifacts" although the court has not explicitly referred to issues of "copyright."