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Queen fans are waiting for the Hammer To Fall as more than 1,400 items belonging to Freddie Mercury are being sold at auction, including his £3million baby grand piano.
Collectors after A Kind Of Magic will be battling to snap up a handwritten draft of Bohemian Rhapsody, expected to fetch £800,000 to £1.2million.
The collection, left to close friend Mary Austin, inset, had remained undisturbed in his West London mansion for 30 years since his death aged 45 in 1991.
In April, Ms Austin, 72, told the BBC she would sell most of Freddie’s things to “close this special chapter in my life”.
Items will be on display at Sotheby’s, London, for the four weeks leading up to what would have been his 77th birthday on September 5.
Catsuits, jackets and the red cape and crown he wore for his final Queen performance in 1986 are featured.
Other items include unseen drafts of Don’t Stop Me Now, Somebody To Love and We Are The Champions, as well as hand written invitations, cat figurines and even his chopsticks and sewing kit.
The star of the show, however, is his beloved Yamaha baby grand piano, the heart of Freddie’s musical and personal story from 1975 until his death.
He once wrote that he likes to be surrounded by “exquisite clutter”.
David MacDonald, of Sotheby’s, said: “So much has already been written and discussed about Freddie Mercury in the past thirty years, but perhaps never before have we had the privilege of coming so close to illuminating his personal world.”
Fans thinking I Want It All will be Under Pressure to snap up Freddie’s prized items between September 6-13.
