Dubai: Some cherished items from pop icon and Queen frontman Freddie Mercury’s collection will be coming up for auction from Sotheby’s, and will have extensive exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles and Hong Kong in June. This will be followed by displays in London before the collectibles reach their potential new owners.
Among these will be the ‘crown and cloak’ that’s often associated with the late singer, and which carry an estimate of 60,000-80,000 pounds come the auction. Done in fake fur, red velvet and rhinestones, it was put together by the costime designer Diana Moseley.
The costume lives on in memory as what Freddie Mercury had on during the final rendition of “God Save The Queen” on his last tour with the band in 1986.
It has been a good year for memorabilia, with Air Jordans worn by Michael Jordan in NBA finals fetching record prices.
The 1,500 items coming up for auction had until now been at the Garden Lodge abode of Freddie in Kensington, West London. The items will be displayed in a sequence of ‘specially designed immersive galleries, each one devoted to a different aspect of Mercury’s rich and varied life’, according to Sotheby’s.
The exhibition will open on August 4, and close on what would have been his 77th birthday, September 5.
A ‘tour’ of their own
Parts of the collection will prior to that head for the exhibitions in New York, London, Los Angeles, and Hong Kong in June. The six dedicated auctions will be led by a live sale on September 6, in which a ‘representative cross-section of the most significant items’ will be offered. On September 7 and 8, two more live auctions will follow - the first dedicated to Mercury ‘On Stage’ and the second to his life ‘At Home’.
Three online auctions will run alongside, one of which will focus on his abiding interest for Japan.
First showing in 30 years
The items are drawn from the Garden Lodge, where they had been kept for more than 30 years now. (Freddie Mercury died November 24, 19991.)
The property and belongings were taken care of by Mary Austin, one of the singer’s ‘closest and most trusted friends’. "I hope this will be an opportunity to share all the many facets of Freddie, both public and private, and for the world to understand more about, and celebrate, his unique and beautiful spirit," said Mary in a statement.
"It was important to me to do this in a way that I felt Freddie would have loved, and there was nothing he loved more than an auction. Freddie was an incredible and intelligent collector who showed us that there is beauty and fun and conversation to be found in everything."
