The piano on which late British singer Freddie Mercury composed almost all of his works from 'Bohemian Rhapsody' onwards sold for £1,742,000 (€2,000,000) at an auction at Sotheby’s in London on Wednesday evening.
Headlining a series of sales of thousands of items that once belonged to the Queen singer, the Yamaha quartertail nevertheless sold, including fees, below the auction house’s published estimate of between two and three million pounds (€2.3 million to €3.5 million).
The singer, who died of AIDS in 1991 aged 45, had bought it for £1,000 in 1975.
Another major item, the manuscript of 'Bohemian Rhapsody' was sold for £1.3 million (€1.6 million). The 15 pages written in pencil and biros reveal the different directions the artist envisaged for the title, which was originally to be called 'Mongolian Rhapsody.'
Sotheby’s had published an estimate of between £800,000 and £1.2 million (€930,000 to €1.4 million).
Prints of 'We Are The Champions,' meanwhile, went for £317,000 (€370,000), as did those of 'Don’t Stop Me Now.'
Opening to the beat of 'We Will Rock You,' the evening was to see 59 lots go under the hammer of auctioneer Oliver Barker.
First among them, the door to Garden Lodge, Freddie Mercury’s home in West London. Saturated with fan graffiti, the property’s green door was sold – including fees – for £412,750 (€481,736), smashing the estimate published by the auction house (between £15,000 and £25,000).
These auctions also saw a succession of paintings that adorned the legendary rocker’s home: works by Chagall, Dali, Picasso, as well as the last painting bought by the artist, a month before his death, an oil on canvas by James Tissot, sold for £483,600.
Two other indoor auctions are due to follow in addition to three online sales.
