LONDON — Freddie Mercury ’s prized piano that he used to compose “Bohemian Rhapsody” and other hits by Queen sold for more than $2 million Wednesday 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 with hand-written lyrics to the song selling for about $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 $208,000.
Freddie Mercury’s signature crown worn throughout the ‘Magic’ Tour, on display at Sotheby’s auction rooms in London on Aug. 3. Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated Press
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 $881,000 – 100 times its estimated low price. The item broke a record set when John Lennon’s leather and bead talisman sold for $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 $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 $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 which quickly blew past the high estimate of $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 $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 $344,000 were to go to the “Rocket Man” singer’s AIDS charity.
Art sold at the auction included prints by Pablo Picasso ($240,000), Salvador Dalí ($60,900); and Marc Chagall ($80,000), antique furniture and numerous cat figurines.
For the past month, fans of Mercury who couldn’t afford those kinds 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 $50-75 had a current bid of $1,500 Wednesday.
One of the quirkier items, a silver moustache comb from Tiffany & Co, that had been expected to set a buyer back $500–750 had a bid at $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 $3.75 million but sold for $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” ($304,000), and “Don’t Stop Me Now” and “We Are the Champions,” which both fetched the same final prices: $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 Mercury’s myriad possessions.
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