Dubai: Some cherished items from pop icon and Queen frontman Freddie Mercury’s collection will be coming up for auction from Sotheby’s, and will have extensive exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles and Hong Kong in June. This will be followed by displays in London before the collectibles reach their potential new owners.

Among these will be the ‘crown and cloak’ that’s often associated with the late singer, and which carry an estimate of 60,000-80,000 pounds come the auction. Done in fake fur, red velvet and rhinestones, it was put together by the costime designer Diana Moseley.

The costume lives on in memory as what Freddie Mercury had on during the final rendition of “God Save The Queen” on his last tour with the band in 1986.

The 1,500 items coming up for auction had until now been at the Garden Lodge abode of Freddie in London. The items will be displayed in a sequence of ‘specially designed immersive galleries, each one devoted to a different aspect of Mercury’s rich and varied life’, according to Sotheby’s.

The exhibition will open on August 4, and close on what would have been his 77th birthday, September 5.

More to follow...