More than 1,500 items from Freddie Mercury’s private collection are being auctioned off by Sotheby’s later this year.
The items include costumes, unique objects and previously unseen handwritten draft lyrics, and will be exhibited publicly in the British capital for a month before the sale.
The stuff will eventually go under the hammer in six London auctions expected to fetch at least $7.5 million.
The collection is being sold by Mary Austin, one of Mercury’s closest friends.
She explained, “I have had the joy and privilege of living surrounded by all the wonderful things that Freddie sought out and so loved. But the years have passed, and the time has come for me to take the difficult decision to close this very special chapter in my life.”
The Queen frontman’s collection has been left largely untouched at his former west London home in the three decades since his death.
If you were Austin, would you sell this stuff? Why or why not?