BrƎИsꓘi
Administrator 
They called it paradise, I don't know why...You call some place paradise, kiss it goodbye.
Posts: 4,167
Likes: 3,416
|
Post by BrƎИsꓘi on Sept 10, 2023 14:18:30 GMT
It’s very sad to think what Garden Lodge must look like inside now, basically stripped bare. Mary obviously has her reasons for doing what she’s done, but I would have much preferred the entire collection to have been sold as a job lot and used to create a museum similar to the one dedicated to ABBA in Stockholm, so that fans from all around the world could have come and enjoyed it. Mary would have got her asking price on everything and the fans would have got a permanent memorial to Freddie. There was a comment earlier in this article that the set up and running costs of such a venture - including purchasing the entire lot - would have been prohibitively expensive and that it would have taken something like 350,000 people to visit it to break even and recoup the outlay. Well, 140,000 people came to Sotheby’s alone, so it would have taken no time at all for such a thing to become profitable. A museum would have run and run and been hugely popular with visitors from all around the world. Can’t say I agree one bit with what she has done, what a sad end to his legacy to have it scattered in every direction. Who knows what will become of a lot of the items. sorry, I disagree. ♦ It's not his legacy, his legacy is the music he created. Because we (the fans) had no connection to his actual belongings - only his music. Think about it - to almost every single one of us...til the auction listings appeared we were completely oblivious to the existence of this stuff. and in any case, we never had any of "it" to begin with, so what exactly are we being denied? ♦ Mary would not have "got her asking price" from QPL - they're a business, not a charity. ♦ The Sotheby's Exhibition entrance was free of Charge. The 140,000 free of charge visitors would not translate into 350,000 visitors at £20+ entrance fee in the "almost instant" manner you suggest. Tell me, how long is Mary/her family supposed to "protect the legacy" by hoarding this stuff? 30 years? 50 years? Forever? There's always someone who will be unhappy with whatever she does. I for one think she's more than kept her promise. Freddie bequeathed GL and its contents to her for her to dispose of as she saw fit. That makes any decision she takes the correct one - by default. That is regardless of what many may think. The bottom line: faced with the same situation ten different people would (likely) take 10 different approaches. None would be wrong. Most of those disagreeing with Mary's choice have a] never been in the same position b] are reacting emotionally to the (long-ago) death of singer as if everything connected to him is somehow sacrosanct - when really it isn't. fans follow bands, singers, sports teams etc for the connection to the product they supply - music, football, etc. This isn't even about the band, this is a private individual selling her things (not ours). When an England World Cup winner's widow sells a '66 Winners medal, shirt, Cap etc football fans have no say. It's the widow's right to sell. but then, if Mary's wishes are not enough to convince folk, perhaps the words of the great man himself may change a few minds: "If I want to be buried with all my treasures like Tutankhamun, I’ll do it. If I want a pyramid in Kensington and I can afford it, I’ll have it. Wouldn’t that be fab,” He didn't build any kind of monument/tomb for himself, so it's fair to say (from his own words) he couldn't give a f*** what happened the "stuff", so neither should we. We need to be objective here. sermon over. |
|
|
|
Post by logicalchoice on Sept 10, 2023 17:26:35 GMT
It’s very sad to think what Garden Lodge must look like inside now, basically stripped bare. Mary obviously has her reasons for doing what she’s done, but I would have much preferred the entire collection to have been sold as a job lot and used to create a museum similar to the one dedicated to ABBA in Stockholm, so that fans from all around the world could have come and enjoyed it. Mary would have got her asking price on everything and the fans would have got a permanent memorial to Freddie. There was a comment earlier in this article that the set up and running costs of such a venture - including purchasing the entire lot - would have been prohibitively expensive and that it would have taken something like 350,000 people to visit it to break even and recoup the outlay. Well, 140,000 people came to Sotheby’s alone, so it would have taken no time at all for such a thing to become profitable. A museum would have run and run and been hugely popular with visitors from all around the world. Can’t say I agree one bit with what she has done, what a sad end to his legacy to have it scattered in every direction. Who knows what will become of a lot of the items. sorry, I disagree. ♦ It's not his legacy, his legacy is the music he created. Because we (the fans) had no connection to his actual belongings - only his music. Think about it - to almost every single one of us...til the auction listings appeared we were completely oblivious to the existence of this stuff. and in any case, we never had any of "it" to begin with, so what exactly are we being denied? ♦ Mary would not have "got her asking price" from QPL - they're a business, not a charity. ♦ The Sotheby's Exhibition entrance was free of Charge. The 140,000 free of charge visitors would not translate into 350,000 visitors at £20+ entrance fee in the "almost instant" manner you suggest. Tell me, how long is Mary/her family supposed to "protect the legacy" by hoarding this stuff? 30 years? 50 years? Forever? There's always someone who will be unhappy with whatever she does. I for one think she's more than kept her promise. Freddie bequeathed GL and its contents to her for her to dispose of as she saw fit. That makes any decision she takes the correct one - by default. That is regardless of what many may think. The bottom line: faced with the same situation ten different people would (likely) take 10 different approaches. None would be wrong. Most of those disagreeing with Mary's choice have a] never been in the same position b] are reacting emotionally to the (long-ago) death of singer as if everything connected to him is somehow sacrosanct - when really it isn't. fans follow bands, singers, sports teams etc for the connection to the product they supply - music, football, etc. This isn't even about the band, this is a private individual selling her things (not ours). When an England World Cup winner's widow sells a '66 Winners medal, shirt, Cap etc football fans have no say. It's the "widows" right to sell. but then, if Mary's wishes are not enough to convince folk, perhaps the words of the great man himself may change a few minds: "If I want to be buried with all my treasures like Tutankhamun, I’ll do it. If I want a pyramid in Kensington and I can afford it, I’ll have it. Wouldn’t that be fab,” He didn't build any kind of monument/tomb for himself, so it's fair to say (from his own words) he couldn't give a f*** what happened the "stuff", so neither should we. We need to be objective here. sermon over. Totally agree, all this hand-wringing is ridiculous. No one has seen these things for over 30 years and would never have seen them if Mary had kept them all in GL. Just buy the book and you can look at them every day, no different to looking at them through a glass case. It’s not as if you could try his outfits on and prance about in them. |
|
pg
Queen Mab
Posts: 2,304
Likes: 1,618
|
Post by pg on Sept 10, 2023 17:53:12 GMT
However many people it took to be profitable, such an exercise would be a commercial risk. So, whatever the numbers, you need somebody with 10s of millions of pounds to invest on the off chance that they MIGHT make it back. I would argue that there are many better, more certain, investments for £40m
|
|
|
|
Post by dragonkiller on Sept 10, 2023 18:00:21 GMT
Everybody will have too go through this at some stage(sometimes twice/three times) of disposing of late family possessions. Most of my parents stuff went to charity or the rubbish tips(apart from a few select items)
I know it will happen again either with my wife`s or my things(apart from my Queen collection) my daughter has put her claim in for that😍.
We have been very lucky to see Freddie`s things due to Mary putting them in a auction. I for one am quite happy with that, and as @brƎИsꓘi has mentioned ...his music is is legacy.
|
|
pg
Queen Mab
Posts: 2,304
Likes: 1,618
|
Post by pg on Sept 10, 2023 18:15:43 GMT
proving purchase cost would save quite a bit. In the absence of a receipt for a British Midland pad of paper from 1974, it seems that there's a form CG34 from which one can provide an estimated valuation at "date of death" for inherited items. So there's a legitimate argument that the value of all the Freddie-generated stuff (assuming the purchased stuff was all documented and receipted at the time) was already significant on 24/11/91, which might limit *some* of the damage... I'm a little surprised that there isn't a lower limit for CGT, in the sense that if one can get £10k for a pair of novelty salt / pepper cellars, why should the taxman get a share of the action? It will mean though that HMRC will made more out of that piano than Yamaha ever did.... they had VAT in the first place |
|
|
|
Post by The Real Wizard on Sept 10, 2023 19:04:06 GMT
I've no idea how Mary became so detached from the Queen camp. I've seen pictures from the evening of Mary arriving to celebrate - in all honesty, I found them very distasteful, more like a party to rejoice in the money being raised than a celebration of Freddie's life. As for the picture, it's an incredible leap to say exactly what she is celebrating, it could be (again) any of a number: ♦ becoming so suddenly cash-rich ♦ being relieved of a 30+ year burden ♦ knowing that the comments directed at her regarding the sale, were finally nearing an end ♦ being overjoyed that her soulmate has such staggering worldwide appeal 30 years after his death...that his legend lives on ♦ being overjoyed that these items have found homes - lots of people now have a treasured item (or two) rather than it all being hoarded out of sight in GL And let's not forget - sometimes people just smile in photos for no particular reason other than their photo is being taken, and there's absolutely nothing to look deeper into. |
|
|
|
Post by newvillefan on Sept 10, 2023 20:27:11 GMT
Are there any photos online of Mary arriving at the auction? I haven’t seen any.
|
|
billy
Dragonfly Trumpeter
Posts: 193
Likes: 257
|
Post by billy on Sept 11, 2023 1:40:49 GMT
|
|
pg
Queen Mab
Posts: 2,304
Likes: 1,618
|
Post by pg on Sept 11, 2023 8:26:25 GMT
Did the writer of the second article die suddenly just as he finished the introduction? I scrolled down a fair way and I didn't find the rest of it...
|
|
pg
Queen Mab
Posts: 2,304
Likes: 1,618
|
Post by pg on Sept 11, 2023 12:28:23 GMT
Day 4 just finished - total hammer price of £2.1m, for a running total of £23.3m
A lot of items going for 10x the estimate, even those that had no previous bidding.
|
|
BrƎИsꓘi
Administrator
They called it paradise, I don't know why...You call some place paradise, kiss it goodbye.
Posts: 4,167
Likes: 3,416
|
Post by BrƎИsꓘi on Sept 11, 2023 12:43:26 GMT
Day 4 just finished - total hammer price of £2.1m, for a running total of £23.3m A lot of items going for 10x the estimate, even those that had no previous bidding. is there anything band/music related left to sell? or is it art/furnishings? |
|
pg
Queen Mab
Posts: 2,304
Likes: 1,618
|
Post by pg on Sept 11, 2023 14:41:52 GMT
There's a shit load of gold discs, a notebook of lyrics and video notes, the jacket from the GH1 sleeve, the wig and outfit from IGSM, the trousers from TATDOOL, all of which will be Wednesday.
I don't think there's much Queen stuff tomorrow
Edit.. his FFMS print is late tomorrow, and his Queen records are the penultimate lot tomorrow...every chance that's a series of unplayed first pressings. One stated item is SSOR (demo), which has a fair chance of being the rejected mix, I'd have thought.
|
|
Lord Fickle
Global Moderator
Posts: 26,112
Likes: 11,296
|
Post by Lord Fickle on Sept 11, 2023 17:00:09 GMT
His other 'personal' record collection is also tomorrow, featuring Roger Taylor, The Outsider Tour Live. 🤔
|
|
|
|
Post by dragonkiller on Sept 11, 2023 17:57:09 GMT
His other 'personal' record collection is also tomorrow, featuring Roger Taylor, The Outsider Tour Live. 🤔 |
|
pg
Queen Mab
Posts: 2,304
Likes: 1,618
|
Post by pg on Sept 11, 2023 17:59:17 GMT
Back to the light is in there too. That said, nobody's going to be running to the Advertising Standards Agency, are they?  |
|
Lord Fickle
Global Moderator
Posts: 26,112
Likes: 11,296
|
Post by Lord Fickle on Sept 11, 2023 19:08:30 GMT
Back to the light is in there too. That said, nobody's going to be running to the Advertising Standards Agency, are they? I guess it's at least feasible that Brian could have given him an advance copy of BTTL. |
|
|
|
Post by dragonkiller on Sept 12, 2023 15:36:27 GMT
The two lots of record collections both went for nearly £90,000 each. At least we have the same likes in music. We both have "Talking of Love" in our collection. So it cannot be that bad.🤣
|
|
|
|
Post by transitorydreams on Sept 12, 2023 17:47:46 GMT
I think there’s a lot of complicated projection (with a few reasons/sources, mainly little to do with Mary herself) involved at least in part in why Mary gets a lot of flack from all corners which I could totally get into discussing, but for now… suffice it to say that Freddie leaving his legacy to Mary clearly indicates he trusted her. This article has given me a different insight into it all. As I say, I actually found the bit of the auction I watched fun & I could imagine Freddie finding it fun & laughing at some of the daft prices. I don’t think he’d care about any of his stuff. I don’t think he’d have cared 30 years ago, let alone now. But it is a bit of a shame about some of the music & performer related items potentially being lost to a millionaire’s trinket display for all eternity… Surprisingly, the costumes made me the saddest. I’m not sure why that was. You’d have thought it’d be the written lyrics or the instruments. But I suppose I personally have no emotional attachment to the written lyrics as I’m only seeing many of them for the first time now. And the instruments, I only really wish for them to Be Played, so a museum or similar is certainly not a place I’d wish them, nor is say in Garden Lodge if nobody was playing them there. Whereas I do feel connected to Freddie’s stage worn costumes. And some also sold for less in comparison to other lots, so I guess that’s why I feel something about it…? What I hadn’t truly appreciated till reading the article is something I do however understand. My Dad died when I was at University. I’d moved away from home for University & knew I’d have to return now for my Mum. (Well, I didn’t *have* to, but rather than moving away to start work or further study or whatever as I otherwise would definitely have after Uni, I returned home for her because I chose to.) That was hard at the time. And he had this chair. It was an expensive chair & in retrospect would have been super useful to have at some points since (one of those electric things you could move, you know.) Anyway, he’d spent much of his last months in this chair & I could not bear the sight of it. I could not bear to be in the house with this chair in the house. I forget now what we did with the chair, but we got rid of it. Now in my mind I multiply that feeling by 30,000 items, some with meaning to Freddie’s career; others that he purchased with love to make his home. Many items which have deep meaning & memories attached, not only to a person you loved who died, but for millions of strangers all over the world. While meaningful & so poignant in many ways, what a true BURDEN to keep yourself surrounded by a constant reminder of the death of a loved one in this way & to hold all of this emotion & all of these memories not only for them & yourself but for millions of humans all around the world, and new people every day discovering Freddie for the first time. It’s unending and never-lessening. The pain of it. Physical items holding that person in a kind of limbo for nearly as long as they lived; for longer than you knew them! And you knew them over half their life! |
|
BrƎИsꓘi
Administrator
They called it paradise, I don't know why...You call some place paradise, kiss it goodbye.
Posts: 4,167
Likes: 3,416
|
Post by BrƎИsꓘi on Sept 12, 2023 18:21:17 GMT
The bottom line: faced with the same situation ten different people would (likely) take 10 different approaches. None would be wrong. Most of those disagreeing with Mary's choice have a] never been in the same position b] are reacting emotionally to the (long-ago) death of singer as if everything connected to him is somehow sacrosanct - when really it isn't. fans follow bands, singers, sports teams etc for the connection to the product they supply - music, football, etc. This isn't even about the band, this is a private individual selling her things (not ours). When an England World Cup winner's widow sells a '66 Winners medal, shirt, Cap etc football fans have no say. It's the widow's right to sell. although I tried to express Mary's viewpoint from my own analogous experience (there were heart-breaking decisions to make over my own dad's stuff 15yrs ago), this ^^ from Billy explains my point much more eloquently than I ever could. |
|
Lord Fickle
Global Moderator
Posts: 26,112
Likes: 11,296
|
Post by Lord Fickle on Sept 12, 2023 19:05:42 GMT
although I tried to express Mary's viewpoint from my own analogous experience (there were heart-breaking decisions to make over my own dad's stuff 15yrs ago), this ^^ from Billy explains my point much more eloquently than I ever could. That's a wonderful piece. Most of us will inevitably end up dealing with the possessions of a deceased loved one. It's not always all about the money. |
|
scandal
Tatterdemalion
Posts: 36
Likes: 55
|
Post by scandal on Sept 12, 2023 19:20:54 GMT
Can anyone explain why lalique fish went for 53 grand? 35x over estimate. Perplexing. |
|
Lord Fickle
Global Moderator
Posts: 26,112
Likes: 11,296
|
Post by Lord Fickle on Sept 12, 2023 19:22:46 GMT
Can anyone explain why lalique fish went for 53 grand? 35x over estimate. Perplexing. Certainly seems fishy. 🙂 |
|
pg
Queen Mab
Posts: 2,304
Likes: 1,618
|
Post by pg on Sept 12, 2023 20:12:04 GMT
Can anyone explain why lalique fish went for 53 grand? 35x over estimate. Perplexing. I can have a try... Ahem Multiple rich people wanted them. |
|
|
|
Post by dragonkiller on Sept 12, 2023 20:31:16 GMT
Can anyone explain why lalique fish went for 53 grand? 35x over estimate. Perplexing. I can have a try... Ahem Multiple rich people wanted them. Correct answer sadly. |
|
BrƎИsꓘi
Administrator
They called it paradise, I don't know why...You call some place paradise, kiss it goodbye.
Posts: 4,167
Likes: 3,416
|
Post by BrƎИsꓘi on Sept 12, 2023 21:21:31 GMT
Can anyone explain why lalique fish went for 53 grand? 35x over estimate. Perplexing. [sorry]  |
|
|
|
Post by katydyd5 on Sept 13, 2023 0:23:13 GMT
Can anyone explain why lalique fish went for 53 grand? 35x over estimate. Perplexing. |
|
grumzy
Satyr
Posts: 78
Likes: 118
|
Post by grumzy on Sept 13, 2023 5:00:11 GMT
Can anyone explain why lalique fish went for 53 grand? 35x over estimate. Perplexing. I'm sorry you weren't able to get your fish. One of the nice things to come out of the auction for me is an appreciation of Lalique glassware. Some of the pieces were beautiful. Not 50,000 pounds beautiful, but very nice and I may well end up with a piece or two eventually. Quite a lot of the art just wasn't for me and it doesn't surprise me that Freddie's tastes were different to mine but it was nice to discover an appreciation of something that he liked. As for owning anything in the auction, one of the notebooks would have been a prize for me. Anything with a slightly different lyric that showed an earlier version of a song would have been wonderful to have, but it was obvious very early on that the prices were going to be way out of my range. At least I have the auction book, that'll have to do. Its a pity all those lyrics have been spread far and wide, they'd have made an interesting book, or at least a nice appendix to a new version of the existing lyric book. |
|
|
|
Post by transitorydreams on Sept 13, 2023 6:03:36 GMT
What did the moustache comb go for in the end? Or is that today? I am sure there’d be MONEY to be made in recreating one of Freddie’s wee cat trinkets for The World To Own post auction… (maybe just by me buying it?! 😂) The item I looked at bidding on was the Barcelona scores. Not handwritten by Freddie, but such a personal & musical item & when I first looked I think they were around £300? I thought I could have got them for £450 which was all I could have stretched to at ABSOLUTE MAXIMUM. Of course they went for just under £10K I think??? Oh well!!! 😂🤣😂🤣😂 From my perspective I’d rather that than them go for £600 as I still couldn’t have afforded that! I don’t think that’s a silly price for those though, unlike some of the tiny wee ornaments that were valued around £50-£100 then went for £20K! What were people thinking!!  ! |
|
feller
Tatterdemalion
Posts: 21
Likes: 12
|
Post by feller on Sept 13, 2023 8:39:38 GMT
What did the moustache comb go for in the end? Or is that today? That's today and the last time I saw yesterday it was up to £100 000. |
|
pg
Queen Mab
Posts: 2,304
Likes: 1,618
|
Post by pg on Sept 13, 2023 11:37:06 GMT
There are a couple of signed pics going soon, both were signed to specific individuals who clearly never received them.
You'd be gutted if you were a name match, and had sent in an autograph request (or something that might have triggered this) on the late 80s.
|
|
!