Excellent results for the auction of the Freddie Mercury collection. With controversial aftermath

Excellent results for the three days of auctions that Sotheby’s devoted to Freddie Mercury’s collection: six rounds of sales (three of which were timed and still ongoing, dedicated to items with lower prices) that dispersed the historic Queen frontman’s collection. Freddie Mercury: A World of His Own (“Freddie Mercury. A World of His Own”), that’s the title of the auction, attracted worldwide attention, and the exhibition that preceded it brought nearly 140,000 visitors to Sotheby’s New Bond Street headquarters. Some even showed up at the auction in costume.

The Evening Sale on Sept. 6, or the highlight of the three-day event that ended yesterday, totaled a sum of 12.2 million pounds (14.2 million euros), and all lots sold in line with expectations. With nearly 60 lots including valuables, jewelry, artwork, clothing, musical instruments, original lyrics, and stage clothes auctioned off, the sale spanned the entire span of Freddie’s life and passions.

The sale came to life with a piece of true rock history that immediately signaled the sale’s truly special quality: the famous green door to the Garden Lodge, aka Freddie Mercury’s lavish home. Aged over the years with messages scrawled by devoted fans, it marked the boundary between Freddie’s public and private life and inspired a fifteen-minute bidding battle, eventually selling for £412,750 (about €480,000), more than twenty-five times the pre-sale estimate, which was £15-25,000 (€17.5-29,000).

The’s objects

The exhibition of Freddie’s objects

The exhibition of Freddie’s objects

A selection of lots drawn from Freddie’s legendary musical career sent waves of excitement through the room, with collectors competing for one-off items such as handwritten lyrics from Somebody To Love, (£241,300 / €280,790), Killer Queen (£279,400 / €325.130) and We Are the Champions (£317,500 / €369,460), while the handwritten draft of the lyrics to Bohemian Rhapsody, was one of the highlights of the evening, selling for £1,379,000 (€1.6 million), in this case just above the initial estimate of £800,000-1.2 million (€930,000-1.4 million).

The Evening Sale also featured the prized 1973 Yamaha G2 piano on which Freddie composed this and many other magnificent pieces. Purchased by the star when he was on the brink of stardom and remaining his faithful companion for the rest of his life, the piano fetched £1,742,000 (just over two million euros): it was one of the few items sold below estimate (£2-3 million). In contrast, pieces that started from lower estimates scored much higher figures, which in the worst cases doubled the estimates. For example, the seven-light Tiffany Lily table lamp reached 60.960 (nearly €71,000) against an initial estimate of £8-12,000 (€9.3-14,000), and then again around a Fabergé table clock in nephrite with guilloché enamel there was a fierce battle when five bidders competed to acquire the piece, which was eventually beaten at £69,850 (€81,000, double the lower estimate). Other pieces of exceptional glass art and sculpture included an extraordinary 1927 electric blue Lalique Alicante vase, which had taken pride of place on Garden Lodge’s living room windowsill, which found a new owner at £82,550 (€96 thousand(, twelve times the low estimate.

A key element of the sale was Freddie’s deep enthusiasm for Japan, preeminent in the 1970s and 1980s. The extent of his Japanese collecting required a separate sale (it is one of three remaining timed auctions: there are two days left to take home an item, bidding even remotely), yet the Evening Sale saw passionate bidding for several exquisite Japanese objects. The most expensive turned out to be the woodcut Sudden Rain on the Shin-Ohashi Bridge and Atake by Hiroshige that Freddie bought at Sotheby’s in 1977, which sold over the phone to a client for £292,100 (about €340,000), while a 1976 stage-worn Kimono elicited spirited bids, eventually selling for £57,150 (€66,500).

Good results also for Freddie Mercury’s art collection. A Picasso print, Jaqueline au Chapeau Noir, which hung in the kitchen of Garden Lodge, sold for £190,500 (€221,680), and good results also for James Tissot’s Portrait of Kathleen Newton sold for 482.600 (€561,590), Henri Wegele’s Bust of Diana at £88,900 (€103,450), or more than three times the low estimate, and the same figure for Joan Miró’s Le Matador print (which, however, started from an estimate five times lower),

Freddie’s love of jewelry, and particularly the gift of jewelry, was reflected in several Cartier lots, all of which were well above their estimates. Highlights included an elegant sapphire and diamond brooch, which fetched £114,300 (€133,000), and an onyx and diamond ring given to Freddie by Elton John , which fetched up to £273,050 (€317,740), which will be donated to the Elton John Aids Foundation. One of the highlights of the jewelry section of the sale was the silver snake bracelet worn by Freddie in the 1975 Bohemian Rhapsody video. It set the room ablaze with bids, which eventually came in at £698,500 (€812,820), an incredible figure considering that the initial estimate was £7-9 thousand (€8.15-10.5 thousand).

What’s more, some of Freddie’s most famous costumes worn onstage and onscreen were beaten out and aroused strong interest in the room and on the phone. The iconic black-and-white jumpsuit and ballet shoes worn in the video We Are The Champions (1977) sold for ten times its estimate, at £190,000 (€221,000), and the rainbow-colored satin jacket with arrow appliqués sold for £203,200 (€236,460).

A pair of Adidas high-top sneakers worn onstage rose to £127,000 (€147,790) after fans and collectors fought to secure Freddie’s famous footwear and a much-photographed piece of music, fashion, and history. And then, another superstar of the evening, the crown and cape outfit designed for the Magic tour by longtime friend and collaborator Diana Moseley sold for £635,000 (€738,000).

Outstanding results for the two morning auctions as well. Highlights of the On stage auction held on Sept. 7 included Freddie Mercury’s acoustic guitar that sold for £50,800, €59,110 (initial estimate 2-3 thousand, €2.3-3.5 thousand), a Freddie Mercury hand drawing, pen on paper, depicting Queen (50.800 pounds, 59,110 €), the Crazy Little Thing Called Love jacket worn in 1978 (120,650 pounds, 140,400 €), Champion’s tank top worn at the last concert with Queen (107,950 pounds, 125,600 €, initial estimate 6-8 thousand, 7-9.3 thousand). As for the At Home auction on Sept. 8, however, sensational were the results of a wooden armchair in the shape of a dragon sold for £44,450 (€51,725) against an initial estimate of just 3-500 (€350-580), and that of a 1930s gramophone sold for 60.960 pounds, €71,000 (initial estimate 4-600, €475-700), and also very high was the price of the Erté drawing given to Freddie Mercury by Elton John (£30,480, €35,500). By contrast, the Chinese-style lacquered piano sold for an impressive £444,500 (€517,250) (ten times the estimate), and excellent results were achieved for virtually all the ornaments and furnishings in the singer’s home, which often increased their estimates tenfold. In line, however, were the most important works of art: among them, Eugen von Blaas’s Water Bearer sold for £63,500, about €74,000 (initial estimate 50-70,000, €58-81,000) and Adriano Bonifazi’s Attentive Audience sold for £52,070 (€60,510), just below the upper estimate of £50,000.

The auction was also accompanied by a controversial aftermath, following statements by Brian May, Queen’s guitarist, who on Instagram, posting a photo of the singer as a young man, wrote: “Inevitably I think a lot about Freddie these odd days. At the time this photo was taken, I’m sure it didn’t seem very important to me to see Freddie’s fingers dancing on my homemade guitar. Now it evokes waves of affection and great memories. We miss him so much. Tomorrow [...] Freddie’s most intimate personal belongings and writings that were part of what we shared for so many years will go to auction, to be beaten to the highest bidder and dispersed forever. I cannot watch. For us, his closest friends and family, it’s too sad.” Many fans found themselves agreeing with Brian May and, consequently, siding against Mary Austin, first Freddie Mercury’s girlfriend and later his best friend and collaborator, to whom went a very substantial part of the star’s legacy, the one from which the material being offered for sale came. Austin has always responded to criticism by saying that Freddie Mercury would have loved this transaction, in part because of the fact that a portion of the proceeds will go to two foundations committed to fighting AIDS, the disease that killed the singer. Fans are now divided, between those who would have liked to see a museum established at Garden Lodge and those who argue that Mary Austin would do nothing to besmirch the singer’s memory, so the operation is considered respectful. But the objects are now gone. And many are still for sale: in fact, the three timed auctions will run until September 11, 12 and 13, and there are still hundreds of items that fans and collectors are vying for.

Excellent results for the auction of the Freddie Mercury collection. With controversial aftermath

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