Sotheby's has announced that it will auction off a large number of Freddie Mercury's personal items later this year.
The significant collection of stage and personal outfits, music memorabilia, art and more has sat largely – in the 30 years since the Queen frontman's untimely death in 1991 – undisturbed and well-looked-after at Mercury's one-time home in London. Now though, many of Mercury's valuables are – with the blessing and oversight of his close friend and confidant, Mary Austin – going up for sale.
Among those items is a 1975 Martin D-35 acoustic guitar, which – according to Sotheby's – was likely the six-string that Mercury used to write and record Queen's first US chart-topper, Crazy Little Thing Called Love.
Though most well-known, instrumentally, as a pianist, Mercury was also very a capable guitarist.
"He was very good on the guitar, very unorthodox – all downstrokes," Queen electric guitar hero Brian May told Guitar World in a 2019 interview. "He wrote the riff for Ogre Battle [from 1974’s Queen II]. I used to play it with up- and downstrokes, but he was all downstrokes. Imagine how fast his right hand was moving! He had a frenetic energy on the guitar, which came across very well in that song.
"He [also] played the rhythm on Crazy Little Thing Called Love," May continued. "I wanted to sound as good as Freddie did on that record, which was damn good."
The Martin – which comes with its original case – is thus far the most prominent guitar to crop up in the auction, though Sotheby's is reportedly still cataloging the full contents of Mercury's collection. Its estimated value is £30,000–50,000 (around $37,000 to $62,000).
The Freddie Mercury: A World of His Own collection will tour the world on exhibition this summer, before hitting the auction block – physically and online – in September.
For more info on the auction and exhibition itinerary, visit Sotheby's.
Incidentally, Sotheby's was also the auction house that – earlier this month – organized the sale of Eddie Van Halen's custom-built Hot for Teacher Kramer. Valued at between two and three million dollars, the guitar eventually sold for an astonishing $3,932,000, making it one of the most expensive guitars sold at auction.
