Freddie Mercury exhibition opens at Sotheby's
It includes his baby grand piano
An exhibition of Queen legend Freddie Mercury's personal possessions, including his treasured baby grand piano, are now on display for free at Sotheby's in London.
The whole 16,000 square foot gallery space in New Bond Street has been taken over by Freddie's possessions, from costumes to hand-written lyrics, drawings, furniture, and decorative and fine art.
Starting on 4th August, the exhibition will continue until 5th September, which would have been Freddie's birthday.
After the public display, the lots will go under the hammer at six separate auctions in early September.
At the heart of this extensive exhibition is Freddie's Yamaha G2 Baby Grand Piano, which has been estimated at £2-3 million.
By 1975, Freddie's trusty upright piano (used for Queen's first three albums), needed to be replaced. After weeks of searching, Freddie found this baby grand piano, which would fit in the apartment he shared with Mary Austin at the time.
Speaking about the piano, Mary said: "Freddie treated the Yamaha with absolute respect. He considered it to be more than an instrument, it was an extension of himself, his vehicle of creativity. He would never smoke at the piano or rest a glass on top of it and would ensure nobody else did either. The piano was always pristine."
The piano was used to develop the hugely popular 'Bohemian Rhapsody', right up to his final song 'Barcelona'.
Fans can visit the exhibition for free over the coming month at the following times, Monday - Friday, 11am – 4.30pm and Saturday/Sunday and Bank Holidays 12pm – 5pm.
On Friday 1st September the exhibition will remain open until 7pm, and on Tuesday 5th September it will close at 1pm.
Freddie Mercury: A World of His Own exhibition and auction highlights:
Freddie Mercury’s favourite waistcoat
Worn in his final video 'These Are The Days Of Our Lives', 1991. The silk panels of red, green and purple are each hand painted with one of Freddie's cats, Delilah, Goliath, Oscar, Lily, Romeo and Miko.
Estimate £5,000–7,000
Freddie Mercury’s crown and accompanying cloak
The items are made from fake fur, red velvet and rhinestones, made by his friend and costume designer Diana Moseley, thought to be loosely modelled on the coronation crown of the United Kingdom. Indelibly linked to Mercury, they were worn for the finale rendition of "God Save The Queen" during his last tour with Queen, 'The Magic Tour', which ended with their very last live show together, at Knebworth in 1986.
Estimate £60,000–80,000
Freddie Mercury’s crown
A close-up of the grown, which is up for auction alongside Freddie's cloak.
A lavish ceremonial military-style jacket created for Freddie Mercury’s legendary 39th Birthday Party Drag Ball, Munich, 5 September, 1985.
An ornate jacket of black silk and velvet with large extravagantly fringed silver-metal epaulettes and imitation medals, in the style of "Sergeant Pepper", the fashion popular when Mercury ran his Kensington Market stall. Mercury had his decadent, raucous 39th birthday party filmed for the video of his solo single 'Living On My Own'. Banned by the BBC at the time, the video was not released in its entirety until 1993.
Estimate £10,000–15,000
Freddie Mercury with Jane Seymour
Freddie also wore the jacket to Fashion Aid at the Royal Albert Hall, where he appeared as a flamboyant groom at a mock wedding to Jane Seymour.
Pink star-shaped glasses.
Freddie Mercury appeared wearing a similar dark pair in the video for 'We Will Rock You' in 1977.
Estimate £2,000–4,000
Freddie Mercury’s 1975 Martin D-35 Acoustic Guitar
In its original case, photographed here in his dressing room at Garden Lodge. While best known as a pianist, Mercury was a proficient guitarist too. It is believed this guitar was used to write and record the hit single 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love' in Munich in 1979, the only Queen hit known to have been written and recorded by Mercury on guitar.
Estimate £30,000–50,000
Freddie Mercury’s 1980s vintage bakelite cream rotary telephone,
Freddie Mercury kept the telephone at his bedside.
Estimate £2,000–4,000
Freddie Mercury’s 1980s vintage bakelite cream rotary telephone,
The telephone at Garden Lodge.
A classic Fabergé gem-set, nephrite and enamel desk clock
Circa 1908-17, the Fabergé clock had pride of place in Freddie Mercury's bedroom. An exquisite piece from the legendary Russian jeweller, this was bought at Sotheby's in Switzerland, and he kept it with the marked-up auction catalogue close by.
Estimate £30,000–50,000
A tiny Tiffany & Co. silver moustache comb
Late 20th century, the moustache comb would have easily fitted inside Freddie Mercury's wallet.
Estimate £400–£600
An Art Nouveau glass vase-lamp (c. 1905), by Daum
Daum is one of the finest producers of art deco glass, and the lamp has a bespoke tasselled shade made by Freddie Mercury himself. This lamp was placed in his sitting room - a space effervescent with colourful and rare pieces.
Estimate £2,000–3,000
James Jacques Tissot, Type of Beauty (1880)
The last work of art Freddie Mercury bought. The painting, which hung in his drawing room, depicts Tissot's muse and mistress Kathleen Newton – the woman whose beauty helped him establish his artistic standing, but whose background as an Irish Catholic divorcée, whom he moved into his home, scandalised and ruined his reputation in society.
Estimate £400,000–600,000
Erté watercolour gifted by Elton John
Downstairs in Garden Lodge hung eleven watercolours by Erté, including this one gifted by his close friend, Elton John. Erté was the supremo of the Art Deco era, known for his opulent set and costume designs for the opera, and a flamboyant style perfectly befitting Mercury's own. Ballet and opera would be key influences for Mercury's music and style across his career.
Estimate £2,000–3,000
Erté watercolour prints
Sudden Shower over the Shin-Ohashi Bridge and Atake (1857) by Utagawa Hiroshige
Utagawa Hiroshige had a profound influence on the Impressionist artists. In the months prior to acquiring this work, Mary Austin had attended a Sotheby's auction in the hope of purchasing a different impression of the same print, but after being outbid, Mercury then made it his mission to find another on his next trip to Japan.
Estimate £30,000–50,000
Henri Matisse’s Masque blanc sur fond noir
In Freddie Mercury's luminescent yellow dining room, Henri Matisse's Masque blanc sur fond noir hung side by side with works by Marc Chagall and Georges Braque.
Estimate £3,000–5,000
Pablo Picasso’s portrait of his wife, Jaqueline au chapeau noir
The Pablo Picasso painting hung in Freddie Mercury's kitchen at Garden Lodge.
Estimate £50,000–70,000
'Bohemian Rhapsody' lyric sheets
Written in black and blue ballpoint pen and pencil, the early draft for 'Bohemian Rhapsody' was penned by Freddie in 1974 across 15 pages of stationery from the now defunct British Midland Airways.One page reveals that Mercury originally planned to call the song 'Mongolian Rhapsody', before crossing out Mongolian and replacing it with 'Bohemian'.
Estimate: £800,000 - £1.2 million