Mercury's signature crown and cloak ensemble, worn throughout Queen's 1986 Magic Tour, will go under the hammer. Photo / AP
Mercury's signature crown and cloak ensemble, worn throughout Queen's 1986 Magic Tour, will go under the hammer. Photo / AP
A large number of items from the singer’s personal collection were snapped up, including a lavish gift from Sir Elton John.
Few are deserving of the word “icon,” but in Freddie Mercury’s case it “could not be more appropriate”.
So began the auctioneer Oliver Barker’s introduction to the first saleof the Queen singer’s personal collection at Sotheby’s in London.
Kicking off the sale, which contains some 35,000 items in 1,500 lots that will be sold across six separate auctions, was the sale of Mercury’s garden door.
Over 14 minutes of bidding was interspersed with gasps of shock and laughter as the item climbed from £11,000 ($23,400) and was eventually sold for £412,750 ($879,050).
The door – one of 59 lots sold on Wednesday evening (Thursday NZ time) – became historically significant after it turned into a place of pilgrimage for Mercury’s fans after his death in November 1991, with many leaving graffiti messages to pay him tribute.
Stage costumes and kimonos worn by the Queen singer are also up for grabs. Photo / AP
The first sale was to set the tone for the rest of the evening at the black tie auction of Mercury’s belongings, which included rings, broaches, stage outfits and autographed draft lyrics for the band’s hit songs as well as his Yamaha grand piano.
A draft manuscript of the Bohemian Rhapsody lyrics became the first item of the evening to surpass the £1 million ($2.1 million) bidding mark through an online bidder, receiving loud applause when it was reached.
“It’s like bingo up here, it’s like Friday night in Blackpool,” Barker quipped as he could barely keep up with reading out the increasing bids for one of Freddie’s stage-worn costumes.
A page from a draft of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. Photo / Lauren Fleishman, The New York Times
Guests and bidders had been greeted in the room on Wednesday evening by complimentary champagne and Queen’s greatest hits, including the phone bidders and auctioneer banging their fists on the table to the tune of We Will Rock You.
Mercury’s collection, which is owned by Mary Austin, his former lover and closest friend, marks one of the biggest single-owner sales to come under the hammer in years.
It is surpassed only by the auctions of the collections of Sir Elton John and Andy Warhol, both in 1988.
Included in Wednesday evening’s sale was an item that had been gifted by Sir Elton, who was one of Mercury’s close friends.
The rock legend's Yamaha G-2 baby grand is one of the more coveted items on sale. Photo / AP
The diamond and onyx Cartier ring sold for £273,050 ($581,565) and the proceeds of the sale – as well as the other gifts from Sir Elton to Mercury that are up for auction – were donated to the Elton John Aids Foundation.
Leaving a message to those at the auction, Sir Elton said: “I miss Freddie to this day.
“He was a wonderful friend – more full of love and life than anyone I’ve ever met … Freddie and I shared a love of collecting and exchanged many gifts over the years.”
He added that he hoped Mary Austin’s wish to donate the proceeds of the sale of his gifts to Mercury to his foundation “would make Freddie smile”.
A moustache comb from Freddie Mercury's personal items. Photo / AP
An attendee’s phone interrupted bidding during the sale of one of the final lots on Wednesday evening, but the incoming call was greeted with laughter rather than admonition after Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now began to blare out.
“Is that actually your ringtone,” Barker asked before adding: “No better place for it.”
Elsewhere in the sale, more eclectic items such as his Tiffany & Co moustache comb and his collection of chopsticks – one of the lowest priced lots in the sale – have so far attracted 53 and 41 bids respectively.
‘I couldn’t hold my tears’
More than 140,000 visitors attended the Sotheby’s exhibition of Mercury’s personal collection ahead of the first auction, making it the most visited daily exhibition on a daily basis since the Royal Academy’s Monet show in 1999.
Upon seeing the collection, one visitor remarked: “Very emotional, especially his piano. I couldn’t hold my tears … Thank you Freddie for inspiring my life. You changed my life.”
Some attendees chose to emulate Mercury’s style at the auction, with one attending wearing a white sleeveless shirt, high jeans and Adidas high-top sneakers completed with a Mercury-inspired moustache and haircut.
Spotting one of the lookalikes, the auctioneer quipped: “Freddie has walked in, don’t worry we won’t tell anyone.”
Others simply dressed eccentrically in an apparent nod to his memory, donning avant-garde check suits and unorthodox footwear.
