LONDON — A Victorian-type silver snake bangle Freddie Mercury wore with an ivory satin catsuit in the “Bohemian Rhapsody” video marketed Wednesday for the greatest rate at any time paid out at auction for a piece of jewellery owned by a rock star as the late Queen entrance man’s most prized belongings were being sold, Sotheby’s reported.
The bracelet went for $881,000 — 100 times its believed low value — as the singer and songwriter’s flamboyant stage costumes, handwritten drafts to hits this sort of as “We are the Champions” and the little one grand piano on which he composed Queen’s finest hits went up for sale.
The item broke a file set when John Lennon’s leather-based and bead talisman marketed for $368,000 in 2008, Sotheby’s mentioned.
The auction opened with the sale of the graffiti-tagged door to the garden of Mercury’s household fast blowing past the high estimate of $31,250 projected before the sale. The green doorway lined in hand-painted like notes from followers who made a pilgrimage to the property in the tony Kensington section of London marketed for an eye-popping $521,000 that provided a buyer’s high quality.
The selection was amassed by Mercury following Queen’s glam-rock developed an avalanche of hits that permitted the singer to reach his aspiration of living a Victorian existence “surrounded by exquisite muddle.”
Much more than 1,400 items are being marketed by Mercury’s close friend, Mary Austin, to whom he remaining his household and all its belongings when he died of AIDS-related pneumonia in 1991 at 45.
Some of the proceeds from a series of live and online auctions ended up to go to charities. All of the proceeds of the sale of a Cartier onyx and diamond ring supplied to Mercury by Elton John that sold for $344,000 were being to go to the “Rocket Man” singer’s AIDS charity.
Amid the goods marketed at auction were being prints by Pablo Picasso ($240,000), Salvador Dalí ($60,900) and Marc Chagall ($80,000), antique home furniture and numerous cat figurines.
Sotheby’s devoted all 15 of its galleries to exhibit Mercury’s eclectic collection in a tribute that was like a museum exhibit it opened to the community for absolutely free, drawing extra than 140,000 site visitors in just more than a thirty day period.
Persons from all-around the earth frequented “Freddie Mercury: A Globe of his Have,” and the publicity drove up bidding for on the web auctions that started previous thirty day period and close next 7 days.
Even the objects that experienced appeared in reach for some consumers quickly eclipsed estimates in on line auctions.
A assortment of chopsticks experienced a current bid of $1,500.
1 of the quirkier merchandise, a silver moustache comb from Tiffany & Co, that experienced been envisioned to set a customer again $500 to $750, experienced a bid at $43,750.
The Yamaha baby grand piano on which Mercury wrote some of his most important hits had been envisioned to access bids as significant as $3.75 million but bought for $2.2 million.
Other products likely to be treasured by Queen lovers have been Mercury’s draft lyrics to hits “Don’t Cease Me Now,” “We Are the Champions” and ”Somebody to Really like.”
The handwritten draft of “Bohemian Rhapsody” — scratched on stationery from the defunct British Midland Airways – confirmed Mercury at first named the song “Mongolian Rhapsody” but crossed it out. It sold for about $1.7 million.
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