It is clear who paid Freddie Mercury’s birthday bill from the Munich bar “Hendersons” in 1985: he himself. Unfortunately, whoever bought it at auction from his estate is not. All that is known is what the small piece of paper was worth to him or her, which came under the hammer at Sotheby’s in a bundle with a few other pieces of paper as “Lot 605” from the star’s estate: 27,940 British pounds, in euros: 32 500.
Not bad for a few sheets of printed material. And yet it seems almost modest compared to the amount that was celebrated by Freddie and his friends on that legendary evening of September 5, 1985. That was 82,500 D-Marks with a discount, most of it for champagne.
It is impossible to say who bought the drinks bill from the party for Freddie Mercury’s 39th birthday in a Munich nightclub.
(Photo: Philip Dethlefs/dpa)
The overall result of the auction with the title “A World of His Own” may have given the owners of the London auction house Sotheby’s a renewed party mood: all in all, it brought in 14 million euros. And the auction itself, which lasted several days, created a celebratory mood right from the start.
Observers reported that the mood in the auction room was already simmering before the start: the first round was held as an evening auction with the dress code “black tie”. And it wasn’t until the room joined in singing “We Will Rock You” that things started, followed by nearly 15 minutes of persistent bidding for the very first lot. Whether something from the estate ended up in Munich, perhaps among old party friends, will perhaps remain an eternal mystery. But maybe something will turn up again – in one of the clubs that once celebrated Freddie here.