A series of auctions of thousands of objects that belonged to Freddie Mercury have reached 40 million pounds sterling (46.5 million euros), a record for a collection of this type, the auction house Sotheby’s announced on Friday.
The more than 1,400 lots found buyers, with more than 41,800 bids placed by bidders, including 27,100 online, Sotheby’s said in a news release.
2 million for the piano
Almost 99% of the lots were sold at a price higher than the estimate, unlike the centerpiece of these auctions, the artist’s piano, with which he composed almost everything, from Bohemian Rhapsody.
This Yamaha quarter grand sold for £1.742 million (2 million euros), a record for a composer’s piano, according to Sotheby’s, against an estimate of between two and three million pounds sterling (2.3 to 3 .5 million euros).
Bidders came from 76 countries in Europe, North America and Latin America and buyers from 50 countries.
177,000 euros for a mustache comb
Another stellar lot, the manuscript of Bohemian Rhapsody It sold for £1.3 million (€1.6 million). Test of We are the Champions It sold for 317,000 pounds (370,000 euros), the same as those of Do not stop me now.
Among the numerous costumes, the crown and cape that the artist wore during the “Magic Tour”, with which Queen filled the stadiums in 1986, sold for 635,000 pounds sterling (740,000 euros), about ten times its estimated price.
Freddie Mercury’s mustache comb, valued at £400, sold for £152,000 (€177,000).
A free exhibition
The collection was put up for sale by Mary Austin, a close friend to whom he was even engaged for a time and whom Freddie Mercury had made his heir.
Before dispersing, it was gathered during a free exhibition in London, which welcomed 140,000 visitors, to which another 10,000 were added with partial exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles or Hong Kong, according to the sales house.
Part of the proceeds from the auction must be donated to the Mercury Phoenix Trust and the Elton John Aids Foundation, two organizations involved in the fight against AIDS, which Freddie Mercury suffered from when he died in 1991, at the age of 45.
Source: BFM TV
