A series of auctions involving thousands of items belonging to Freddie Mercury have reached 40 million pounds sterling (about 67 million Canadian dollars), a record for a collection of its kind, auction house Sotheby’s announced on Friday.
• Also read: Freddie Mercury’s piano sold in London for $3 million
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All of the more than 1,400 lots found buyers, with more than 41,800 offers submitted by bidders, including 27,100 online, Sotheby’s said in a news release.
Almost 99% of the lots were sold at a higher estimate, in contrast to the centerpiece of these event auctions, the artist’s piano on which he composed almost everything from “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
AFP
This Yamaha quarter grand sold for 1.742 million pounds sterling (2.8 million Canadian dollars), a record for a composer’s piano, according to Sotheby’s, compared to an estimate of between two and three million pounds sterling (3.3 million to 5 million Canadian dollars) .
Bidders came from 76 countries in Europe, North and Latin America and buyers from 50 countries.
Another star lot, the manuscript of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” sold for 1.3 million pounds sterling (2.3 million Canadian dollars). Trials of “We Are The Champions” cost £317,000 (C$533,000), as did “Don’t Stop Me Now.”
AFP
Among the many costumes, the crown and cape worn by the artist during the “Magic Tour” that sold out stadiums by Queen in 1986 sold for about 635,000 pounds sterling (1 million Canadian dollars), ten times its estimate.
Freddie Mercury’s mustache comb, valued at £400, sold for £152,000 (C$255,000).
The collection was put up for sale by Mary Austin, a close friend to whom he was even engaged for a time and who had made Freddie Mercury his heir.
AFP
Before it was dispersed, it was collected during a free exhibition in London that welcomed 140,000 visitors, joined by 10,000 more depending on the auction house, including partial exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles or Hong Kong.
A portion of the proceeds from the auction must be donated to the Mercury Phoenix Trust and the Elton John Aids Foundation, two organizations committed to the fight against AIDS, from which Freddie Mercury suffered when he died in 1991 at the age of 45.
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