SEPTEMBER 7, 2023:
LONDON (AP) — Freddie Mercury ’s prized piano that he used to compose “Bohemian Rhapsody” and other hits by Queen sold for more than $2 million as some of the late singer’s massive collection of flamboyant stage costumes, fine art and original lyrics were auctioned in a sale that broke records.
Items connected to the operatic “Rhapsody,” the band’s most enduring hit, brought a premium Wednesday (Sept. 6, 2023) with hand-written lyrics to the song selling for about 1.4 million pounds ($1.7 million) and a gold Cartier brooch saying “Queen number 1” given to each band member by their manager after the song topped the charts, selling for 165,000 pounds ($208,000).
A Victorian-style silver snake bangle Mercury wore with an ivory satin catsuit in a video for the song — long before the days of MTV — set a record for the highest price ever paid at auction for a piece of jewelry owned by a rock star, Sotheby’s said.
The bracelet went for 698,500 pounds ($881,000) — 100 times its estimated low price. The item broke a record set when John Lennon’s leather and bead talisman sold for 295,000 pounds ($368,000) in 2008, Sotheby’s said.
The eclectic collection of objects were amassed by Mercury after Queen’s glam-rock produced an avalanche of hits that allowed the singer to achieve his dream of living a Victorian life “surrounded by exquisite clutter.”
Mercury’s close friend, Mary Austin, to whom he left his house and his possessions when he died of AIDS-related pneumonia in 1991 at 45, is selling it all — more than 1,400 items.
A mere 59 items of that “clutter” sold for 12.2 million pounds ($15.4 million), including a buyer’s premium, that blew away estimates in the four-and-a-half hour auction. Bidders from 61 countries took part in person, online and by phone.
Mercury wrote, “Easy come, easy go, will you let me go?” in “Rhapsody,” and the answer to the question from well-heeled fans seemed to be “No,” as they bid fortunes — large and larger — to grab a piece of the late singer’s clothing, awards and original hand-written drafts to classics such as “Killer Queen” and “We Are the Champions.”
Depending how you looked at it, the champions of the night may have been Sotheby’s or Austin or a few charities she’s promised to donate an undisclosed portion of the proceeds to.
Or it could have been the buyers of one-of-a-kind memorabilia who won. One man raised his hands over his head in victory and hugged the woman seated next to him after bidding 635,000 pounds ($801,500) for the rhinestone-studded crown and red fake fur cloak Mercury wore on stage at the end of every show during Queen’s last tour in 1986.
The auction opened with the sale of the graffiti-tagged door to the garden of Mercury’s home that quickly blew past the high estimate of 25,000 pounds ($31,250) projected before the sale and led to a bidding war that lasted nearly 20 minutes.
The green door covered in hand-painted love notes from fans who made a pilgrimage to the house in the tony Kensington section of London sold for an eye-popping 412,750 pounds ($521,000).
All of the proceeds of the sale of a Cartier onyx and diamond ring given to Mercury by his friend, Elton John, that sold for 273,000 pounds ($344,000) were to go to the “Rocket Man” singer’s AIDS charity.
Art sold at the auction included prints by Pablo Picasso (190,500 pounds; $240,000), Salvador Dalí (48,260 pounds; $60,900); and Marc Chagall (63,500; $80,000), antique furniture and numerous cat figurines.
For the past month, fans of Mercury who couldn’t afford those kind of prices — or just wanted to see his high-top Adidas, diamond brooches, or a sequined jacket — could view them for free in Sotheby’s galleries. More than 140,000 visitors from around the world queued up outside the elegant auction house to take a tour.
Publicity from “Freddie Mercury: A World of his Own” drove up bidding for online auctions that began last month and closes next week.
Even items being sold online that had seemed like they might be in reach for some average buyers eclipsed pre-sale estimates.
A collection of chopsticks once estimated to fetch 40-60 British pounds ($50-75) had a current bid 1,200 pounds ($1,500) Wednesday.
One of the quirkier items, a silver moustache comb from Tiffany & Co, that had been expected to set a buyer back 400 to 600 pounds ($500—750) had a bid at 35,000 pounds ($43,750).
The Yamaha baby grand piano that Mercury wrote some of Queen’s greatest hits on was one of the few items that sold for less than its estimated price tag, though it still sold for the most amount of money.
It had been expected to sell for as much as 3 million pounds ($3.75 million) but sold for 1.7 million pounds ($2.2 million). Sotheby’s said it was the highest price ever paid for a composer’s piano, but they didn’t provide information on the previous record.
Other items that were treasured by fans were Mercury’s draft lyrics to “Somebody to Love” (241,000 pounds; $304,000), and “Don’t Stop Me Now” and “We Are the Champions,” which each fetched the same price: 317,500 pounds; $400,700.
The drafts showed songs at their inception, with “Bohemian Rhapsody” scratched on stationery from the defunct British Midland Airways. The song was originally named “Mongolian Rhapsody” before that was crossed out.
The song ends with the words: “Nothing really matters to me,” a line that certainly didn’t apply to the way Mercury — and some of his wealthy fans — felt about his possessions.
AUGUST 3, 2023:
LONDON (AP) — More than 1,400 of Freddie Mercury ‘s personal items, including his flamboyant stage costumes, handwritten drafts of “Bohemian Rhapsody” and the baby grand piano he used to compose Queen’s greatest hits, are going on display in a free exhibition at Sotheby’s London ahead of their sale.
The vast collection of the singer’s personal belongings, which had been left to Mercury’s close friend Mary Austin, had remained undisturbed in his west London mansion for 30 years since his death in 1991.
Austin, 72, said in a BBC interview in April that she has decided to sell almost all the items to “close this very special chapter in my life” and “put my affairs in order.”
Among the hundreds of Mercury’s personal treasures were previously unseen working drafts of hits “Don’t Stop Me Now,” “We Are the Champions” and ”Somebody to Love.”
The handwritten draft of “Bohemian Rhapsody” — which shows that Mercury experimented with naming the song “Mongolian Rhapsody” before crossing it out — is expected to fetch 800,000 to 1.2 million pounds ($1 million to $1.5 million.)
“We have here working lyrics for pretty much every song that Freddie Mercury wrote through the 1970s,” said Gabriel Heaton, a specialist at the auction house. “We’ve got extensive working drafts that really showed how songs developed, how they changed, how they took shape in the most wonderful way.”
The star of the show, however, is Mercury’s beloved Yamaha baby grand piano, which is set to sell for 2 million to 3 million pounds ($2.5 million to $3.8 million). The piano survived several house moves, took center stage at his mansion, and was the heart of Mercury’s musical and personal story from 1975 until his death, auctioneers said Thursday.
“Of all the objects that he had, this is the one that meant the most to him,” Heaton said.
Many of the highlights conveyed Mercury’s love of theatre and showmanship. There were his dazzling sequinned, skin-tight catsuits, leather jackets and the lavish red cape and crown he wore on his last Queen performance in 1986, as well as his collection of Japanese silk kimonos.
Other items were more personal and intimate, including a school book with the singer’s name, Fred Bulsara, dating from the 1960s when he had just arrived in the U.K. with his family from Zanzibar. Visitors could study Mercury’s detailed dinner party seating plans and menus, as well as handwritten invitations to his famous birthday bashes — including one dated 1977 that instructed guests to “Dress to Kill!”
Also on sale are Mercury’s art collection, featuring works by Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali and Marc Chagall, as well as his eclectic antique furniture and numerous cat figurines.
“(Mercury) wrote this: ‘I like to be surrounded by splendid things. I want to lead a Victorian life, surrounded by exquisite clutter,’” said Sotheby’s furniture and decorative arts specialist Thomas Williams.
The hundreds of items have turned the auction house’s elegant central London building into a shrine to Mercury, with all 15 of its galleries devoted to his story. It is the first time Sotheby’s is opening its entire gallery space to the public for the weekslong exhibition, Williams said, adding it is perhaps its “most democratic sale,” with objects like Mercury’s chopsticks and sewing kit starting at under 100 pounds ($125) each.
“Freddie Mercury: A World of His Own,” which is free to view, opens Friday and runs until Sept. 5. The items will then be sold in a series of auctions later that month.
Sotheby’s expects buyers to include institutions like museums, as well as members of Mercury’s worldwide fanbase. Asked whether the rare objects may be better displayed in a museum, rather than sold individually by lot, Williams said Mercury “didn’t want a stuffy museum.”
“He conveyed that to Mary (Austin) and to his personal assistant,” Williams said. “This is absolutely the vehicle he would have loved.”
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