Earlier this week, Sotheby’s announced that the London exhibition of the Freddie Mercury Collection had attracted more than 130,000 visitors – an all-time record for any auction held by any auction house worldwide. This certainly didn't come as a surprise: few celebrities can draw in an audience such as Freddie Mercury. On this rare occasion, Sotheby's gathered a complete collection, which included over 1,500 lots, all of which are of high quality.
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Sotheby’s just hammered 59 lots, which were a part of the first session of the 6-part auction. Day 1 included the majority of all the high-end lots, including the Yamaha piano and the handwritten lyrics for Bohemian Rhapsody. It is fair to say that the auction lived up to its expectations, perhaps even exceeding them, with 59 lots bringing in a total of £12.2 million.
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All items in the collection were stored in Garden Lodge, the last residence of Freddie Mercury. The house, located in Kensington, London, was purchased by the pop star in 1980 and was his primary residence until his death in 1991. After his death, the house was inherited by Freddie’s close friend, Mary Austin. Inside the house were all of Freddie Mercury’s personal belongings, which were kept by Austin until 2023, when she and Sotheby’s announced that they would auction them off. The first lot of the sale was the front door to the residence. The door had an estimate of £15,000–£25,000, but was sold for a whopping £412,000.
The next item that surprised everyone was lot 28 – a silver snake bangle, worn by Freddie Mercury in the Bohemian Rhapsody music video. The bracelet sold for 100 times its estimate and hammered at £698,000.
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A couple of handwritten lyrics were sold, including Killer Queen, Somebody To Love, We Are The Champions, and Don’t Stop Me Now, each of which cost between £241,000 and £317,000. The leading lot was arguably the handwritten lyrics to Bohemian Rhapsody, which Freddie wrote in 1974. The manuscript sold for £1.3 million, making it the third most expensive handwritten lyrics after Bob Dylan’s Like a Rolling Stone and John Lennon’s A Day in the Life, which sold in the £1.7 million range.
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The item with the highest estimate was Freddie Mercury’s Yamaha Grand piano, which Sotheby’s describes as “The instrument used to compose some of the greatest songs of the 20th century”. Although the estimate was placed at £2-3 million, the hammer price ended at £1.7 million, making it one of only two items that sold for under the estimate.
Lastly, Sotheby's auctioned Freddie Mercury’s iconic royal crown and cloak ensemble. The lot had been the main attraction at the exhibitions and came with a conservative estimate of £60,000 to £80,000, but it sold for almost £635,000.
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Day 2 of the Freddie Mercury Collection takes place on 7 September in London.
