One of Freddie Mercury’s oldest friends will auction off a collection of 1,500 personal artifacts belonging to the late Queen singer, including handwritten lyrics and outrageous stage costumes.
The singer amassed the collection over three decades and kept it all in his West London residence.
Mary Austin inherited the home and its contents after he died in 1991.
“The collection takes you deeper within the individual and the man I knew,” said Austin.
Austin sits in the huge drawing room with a Tissot portrait, Mercury’s last purchase a month before his death.
It was hung for Mercury to view from his settee. It is expected to sell for between £400,000 and $600,000.
Austin told, “His tastes span a broad spectrum.”
It is a highly astute and refined collection.
Included on nine pages will be Freddie Mercury’s handwritten working lyrics to one of Queen’s finest anthems, We Are The Champions, as well as harmonies and chords. Expected sales prices range from £200,000 to $300,000.
Unseen working lyrics for Killer Queen, written in black Biro on a single sheet of paper in 1974, are anticipated to garner between £50,000 and £70,000.
Austin stated that it was especially difficult for her to let go of the lyrics because they reveal “for me, the most beautiful side” of the man she loved.
“You are observing the artist’s process and work in progress,” she added. “The crossings out, the rethinking, and the reformatting.”
In 1970, Austin, 19, met Mercury on a date with Queen guitarist Brian May.
They moved in together and remained close even after he disclosed his sexual orientation. As he grew weakened after contracting an Aids-related illness, she provided care for him.
Mercury once remarked about Austin, “I don’t have that many individuals I can turn to. And if we’re talking about it, Mary is the only one.”
Austin, who is naturally reserved and modest, has rarely spoken in public since Mercury’s death.
But he remains an integral part of her life. “I miss his wit, humor, warmth, and vitality,” she reflects.
Mercury’s Kensington home, Garden Lodge, has remained virtually unchanged for three decades, replete with the antique furniture, artworks, and glassware he collected, as well as the luxurious fabrics he cherished.
On the iridescent buttercup-yellow gloss-painted walls of the dining room are printed by Matisse and Chagall, and above the breakfast table in the kitchen is a Picasso portrait.
Once, he stated, “I enjoy being surrounded by splendid things.” “I desire to live a Victorian lifestyle, surrounded by exquisite muddle.”
She explains that she has resolved to sell the collection because she needs to organize her affairs.
Austin, 72, adds, “The time has come for me to make the challenging decision to close this very special chapter of my life.”
In addition to a few “personal gifts” and photographs of the couple, Mary Austin is selling absolutely everything.
“I determined that it would not be appropriate for me to withhold information. If I was going to sell, I had to have the courage to sell everything.”
So Mercury’s stage costumes, including sequined catsuits, glittered shoes, and the fake fur, red velvet, and rhinestones crown, and matching cloak he donned during the 1980s Queen tour, will be sold.
He kept them in a dressing room lined with mirrors.
There are also personal objects for sale. The telephone he kept beside his bed, a custom marble bar and corresponding bar stools, cocktail napkins embroidered with a green F, and a small silver mustache comb.
His 1991 final video These are the Days of Our Lives used his favourite waistcoat.
Mercury’s cats Delilah, Goliath, Oscar, Lily, Romeo, and Miko are hand-painted on each red, green, and purple silk panel.
All 1,500 items will be displayed at Sotheby’s in London during the summer in a series of specially designed galleries, each devoted to a distinct aspect of Freddie Mercury’s life, before their September sale.
The auction is anticipated to generate over £6 million, a portion of which will be donated to charity.
