The piano that Queen vocalist Freddie Mercury used to compose almost all of his best songs, as well as the original manuscript for “Bohemian Rhapsody,” went under the hammer in London on Wednesday for more than $3 million. The Sotheby’s auction chamber echoed to the strains of “We Will Rock You” before the black-tie evening auction began.
The artifacts were among almost 1,400 lots of Mercury memorabilia on offer over the next week, with the famous auction house’s exterior decked up with a massive mustache to commemorate the event. Sotheby’s reported that the 59 pieces sold on Wednesday raked in £12,172,290, more than double the projected price. Mercury’s Yamaha quarter-tail piano sold for £1,742,000 ($2,198,927), with buyer’s premium and costs, while the manuscript for the epic smash song “Bohemian Rhapsody” sold for £1,379,000.
Insights into ‘Bohemian Rhapsody
The “Bohemian Rhapsody” lyrics, which were included in 15 pages of pencil and ballpoint pen notes, were described as a “modern cultural icon” by auctioneer Oliver Barker. The text also reveals that Mercury, who died of AIDS in 1991, intended to call the song “Mongolian Rhapsody” at first. Mercury’s prized baby grand piano was purchased in 1975 after a six-month search for “the ideal instrument to bring to life” his tunes.
A total of 2,000 bidders from 61 countries registered to participate in the auction. A portion of the revenues will be donated to the Mercury Phoenix Trust and the Elton John Aids Foundation, both of which are involved in the AIDS fight. “I miss Freddie to this day. He was a wonderful friend more full of love and life than anyone I’ve ever met, as well as a brilliant performer whose music has inspired and thrilled millions,” John said in a message read out at the start of the sale. “He was kind, generous, and funny and it is a tragedy that AIDS took him from the world much too soon,” he added.
Graffiti memorials
The auction began with admirers scrawling messages on the green door to Mercury’s garden for 20 minutes. The door to his Garden Lodge property in west London sold for £412,750, well exceeding the estimate of £15,000-25,000. Furniture, clothing, art pieces, and knick-knacks are among the other objects being auctioned off. Following Wednesday’s auction, there will be two more live auctions and three online sales in the coming days. Among the pieces auctioned were works by Chagall, Dali, and Picasso that graced Mercury’s residence.
Mary Austin, Freddie Mercury’s close friend and one-time fiancee to whom the singer bequeathed his fortune, is selling the complete collection. “Mary Austin has lived with the collection and has cared for the collection for more than three decades,” Gabriel Heaton, a books and manuscripts specialist at Sotheby’s, told AFP. Mercury “was not interested in having a museum of his life but he loved auctions”, to the point of being a regular at Sotheby’s sales, said Heaton. Austin feels the artist, who died at the age of 45, would have “loved” this sale.
Freddie Mercury’s most colorful stage clothes are also finding new homes
Freddie Mercury’s most colorful stage clothes, including a Hawaiian shirt and a Superman tank top, are also finding new homes, as are photographs by famed photographer Mick Rock. Rafael Reisman, a Brazilian entrepreneur who paid £635,000 for a crown and cloak stage costume ensemble, claimed Mercury “belongs to the world.” Mercury is shown in a series of mostly unseen personal polaroids “celebrating birthdays and Christmases, snuggling with his cats, and relishing being surrounded by special objects at home,” according to Barker.
The cache of 265 pictures, largely from the mid-1980s, earned more than £88,000 at auction. The finest bottles from his cellar, such as Dom Perignon champagne, are also being offered, as with more private things such as a volume of personally inscribed poetry and a mustache comb. Before the sale, the auction house displayed the collection for a month in a free public show. Sotheby’s claims it is the largest collection of a cultural star sold at auction in terms of volume since the Elton John sale in 1988 when 2,000 pieces sold for a total of £4.8 million.