Current:Home > reviewsIndexbit Exchange:Freddie Mercury memorabilia on display ahead of auction – including scribbled song lyrics expected to fetch more than $1 million -FinanceCore
Indexbit Exchange:Freddie Mercury memorabilia on display ahead of auction – including scribbled song lyrics expected to fetch more than $1 million
PredictIQ Quantitative Think Tank Center View
Date:2025-04-07 10:29:55
Some of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury's most prized possessions will be Indexbit Exchangeavailable for auction at Sotheby's in September. Before they are sold, the items are on display in New York and then will be displayed in Los Angeles, Hong Kong and London. Some of the iconic pieces include a crown, scribbled song lyrics and a jacket.
Senior Vice President of Sotheby's Cassandra Hatton brought some of the items to "CBS Mornings" on Monday, including a crown Mercury designed with Dana Mosely, a costume designer and close friend of his.
"It was worn during his last live performance with Queen in 1986. I mean, this is indelibly linked with Freddie," Hatton said, adding that Mercury came up with the concept for the crown. It is expected to sell for between $49,500 and $74,000.
Hatton also showed off pages where Mercury wrote the lyrics to Queen hits "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "We Are the Champions." The page is scribbled with words, including "Mongolian Rhapsody," the original title idea for "Bohemian Rhapsody."
"You can see he scratched that out," Hatton said. "The most important line to him, you can see, he starts off with 'nothing really matters to me.'" Mercury croons this lyric at the end of the song.
"What you're seeing here essentially is his idea coming to fruition," CBS Mornings' Vlad Duthiers said.
The lyrics are scribbled on 15 pages – some of them old airline schedules Mercury used to jot down his ideas. The "Bohemian Rhapsody" lyrics are expected to go for about $990,000 to nearly $1.5 million at the auction.
Another item on display is his form-fitting leather jacket, which Hatton called "iconic." Mercury wore the jacket for many live performances, including on "Saturday Night Live" in 1982, his last live performance in the U.S. It is expected to sell for about $24,000 to $37,000.
Other items of Mercury's up for auction: His Adidas high-top sneakers, estimated to go for about $3,700 to $6,100, and a silver bangle that looks like a snake, estimated to go for about $8,600 to $11,000.
Mercury sang with Queen for about two decades and died in 1991 from complications from HIV. During their decades together, Queen wrote countless hits and was nominated for four Grammys but never won.
Caitlin O'KaneCaitlin O'Kane is a digital content producer covering trending stories for CBS News and its good news brand, The Uplift.
veryGood! (66878)
Related
- A South Texas lawmaker’s 15
- Colleen Ballinger's Team Sets the Record Straight on Blackface Allegations
- America is going through an oil boom — and this time it's different
- Taylor Swift Changed This Lyric on Speak Now Song Better Than Revenge in Album's Re-Recording
- Average rate on 30
- ¿Por qué permiten que las compañías petroleras de California, asolada por la sequía, usen agua dulce?
- Clean-Water Plea Suggests New Pennsylvania Governor Won’t Tolerate Violations by Energy Companies, Advocates Say
- The Texas AG may be impeached by members of his own party. Here are the allegations
- B.A. Parker is learning the banjo
- A troubling cold spot in the hot jobs report
Ranking
- Will the 'Yellowstone' finale be the last episode? What we know about Season 6, spinoffs
- Inside Clean Energy: Texas Is the Country’s Clean Energy Leader, Almost in Spite of Itself
- Pretty Little Liars' Lindsey Shaw Details Getting Fired Amid Battle With Drugs and Weight
- RHONJ: Find Out If Teresa Giudice and Melissa Gorga Were Both Asked Back for Season 14
- Charges tied to China weigh on GM in Q4, but profit and revenue top expectations
- Rob Kardashian's Daughter Dream Is This Celebrity's No. 1 Fan in Cute Rap With Khloe's Daughter True
- Inside Clean Energy: Three Charts to Help Make Sense of 2021, a Year Coal Was Up and Solar Was Way Up
- How randomized trials and the town of Busia, Kenya changed economics
Recommendation
The Super Bowl could end in a 'three
The Texas AG may be impeached by members of his own party. Here are the allegations
A Court Blocks Oil Exploration and Underwater Seismic Testing Off South Africa’s ‘Wild Coast’
OceanGate Suspends All Explorations 2 Weeks After Titanic Submersible implosion
See you latte: Starbucks plans to cut 30% of its menu
'Los Angeles Times' to lay off 13% of newsroom
Experts issue a dire warning about AI and encourage limits be imposed
Thousands of Reddit communities 'go dark' in protest of new developer fees