Freddie Auction and Sotheby's book discussion

I'm a little surprised that the stage / video costumes aren't in fact "Property of Queen Productions", given that they would have been paid for by the organisation.

Still waiting to hear what the thrust of Greg's deleted Facebook post was...

Hello, logicalchoice, can you, please, if I may ask, describe the book in general? are there a lot of new photographs of Freddie or mostly the images of his collection? Thank You

curious is that this seal is of the sign of the monkey, which is not the year of Freddie. the monkey covers the years 1944 and 1956 (closest to 1946). 🤔

www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2023/freddie-mercury-a-world-of-his-own-crazy-little-things-2/the-desk-seal-of-freddie-mercury

The art stuff does nothing for me, but the story is quite fascinating. I wonder if the original artist has any claim to this?

I mean, it was in Freddie’s house, so unless any of the forum members were tight with Freddie, it’s new to all of us…

My God, hatchards say that the book is already out of stock, so-so sad I missed it...

Apparently the OG artist shared this artwork in 1975 (according to his facebook page from 2019). So it was not something only Freddie had... (Also the artist didn't know Freddie had a copy!)

Me and my Wife were planning a trip in London in October: we changed our plans because of the crazy prices of the flights and awful hotels. We've been in London 2 times, in 2012 and 2014, before the Brexit.
In 2012 and 2014 we fell in love with this city, always in our hearts because of the english rock/pop music and the fun, vitality of the english culture in 1960->2016.
In 2021 we went on vacation in Dublin, Ireland and had a chat with an hotel hostess that worked in London for several years, then she said had to run fast out of England after the Brexit, despite her solid career. I was not trusting her completely but now I am undestanding why, as long as I read the comments left by tourist about the London hotels...and the prices...

As far as I can imagine, Mary Austin has been recommended to sell until She can really earn something from her properties. I've been reading english houses will lose 10% of their value in the next years as a consequence of the Brexit, and this affects particularly the luxury ones, obviously, because 10% means milions of loss.
I believe that Garden Lodge will be soon sold, in 1 year. The starting logical move was indeed selling first all the stuff. This, is my opinion, explains why the auction has been started right on this year and why all the items in the house are being sold. Even the Freddie's sea shirts (as example)...the goal is clear: emptying the house completely with maximum profit.

In my opinion this event has three sides, a sad one, a nice one and a curious one;
On the nice side the items collection expalins and show Us the singer's personality much more than a lot of books, it is really an incredible look inside his personality: who had a very sad and melanchonic side, all the furniture is past-oriented, like He wanted to recreated a glorius and idealized past that was kept alive just in his thoughts, maybe as a refuge. The house seems a jump into a Belle Epoque age, detachted from the outside, both in space and times terms. Like ad avoidment of his contemporary times.
I'm an not a phsycologist, I have some thoughts about it but I keep them for myself. It would be interesting to read a phsycologist's opinion.

On the sad one it confirms how Freddie surrounded himself of people from whom He felt protected, while in reality they were, sooner or later, taking advantage of him, more or less clearly.
Garden Lodge will loose 90% of its emotional value right after the end of the auction: I wonder if it could have been a museum with all those items inside, sooner or later, if Brexit had no dramatic economical aftermath: a musem would have been a real tribute to him, in my opinion.
3 decades spent in hiding his "world", 1 second to sell it all (even his sea shirts...), this is such a contrast.

The curious side is about the silence from Brian, Roger and Queen Productions and, like you, I really wonder why.
I have the following theory (which remains a theory, not a fact):
    I always thought that Freddie's last wishes were strongly guided by Jim Beach, who was his personal lawyer, and his last wishes have always been linked to Queen Productions, even Gardge Lodge's destiny, despite what it have been told for     decades. Maybe, Mary Austin was the right person and the right time.
    No one every mentonied the opportunity to build a museum, except Jim Hutton who was moved away so fast.
    Maybe it is a matter of royalties and inner fiscal companies, like a lot of musicians have in Uk (where a famous musician is/has an enterprise).

I think the reason for that is based on the simple fact that it was Mary's home, and it was (and still is) up to her what she did with it.

See my post earlier #140. The big Auction houses have a habit of doing this.

It's also a residential property on a residential street. The council and neighbours may not allow or want it to be turned into a commerical one.

Brian's Wig, can you, please, say - are there a lot of photographs of Freddie himself in the book? Thank you in advance 

Sorry If i broke rules. If you revert the image, I removed all the creases in the paper + all the discoloration from the paper + recentered it. Now the image is truly B&W flat

Good point. I expect there may already have been issues with large numbers of visitors wanting to view the property, even just from the outside.