The sale of Freddie Mercury’s personal items has fetched almost £40 million - over €46.5 million - way above the £7.6 million expected by auctioneer Sotheby’s, and the highest total for a celebrity business auction.
Clothes, artworks, jewellery and other (musical) property of the singer, who died in 1991, went under the hammer in London. The main piece was the black piano on which Freddie Mercury composed one of Queen’s greatest songs, 'Bohemian Rhapsody.' It sold for £1.7 million, far less than the £2-3 million expected.
A portion of the proceeds from the sale will go to the Mercury Phoenix Trust and the Elton John AIDS Foundation, two organisations that fight AIDS, the condition from which the singer suffered. Mary Austin, Freddie Mercury’s former girlfriend, and the sale organiser will share the rest.
