A number of Freddie Mercury items were among the highlights of the 3rd July Entertainment Memorabilia sale held at Bonhams, London. Freddie Mercury’s black and white harlequin stage costume sold for £22,500 with fierce competition among bidders for the iconic costume, pushing the final price well above the pre-sale estimate of £8,000 – 12,000.

The Queen singer’s memorable costumes reflected his artistic nature and were central to his flamboyant performance style. The harlequin costume was one of the musician’s most recognisable stage designs, which he wore at a number of high-profile concerts in the 1970s.

Also exceeding pre-sale estimates were a pair of Freddie Mercury’s ballet pumps which sold for £4,000 to an overseas internet bidder, against an estimate of £1,500 – £2,000. Freddie Mercury wore the white leather ballet shoes during Queen’s legendary Hyde Park performance in the long, hot summer of 1976. The concert was a free event organised by leading entrepreneur Richard Branson and attracted one of the largest audiences for a concert in London. A crowd of more than 150,000 people gathered in the park on an unusually hot day in September to see the great rock band perform.

Stephanie Connell, Director of the Entertainment Memorabilia department commented “We are delighted Freddie Mercury’s stage costume, which is such an important and instantly recognisable piece of rock and roll history, achieved almost three times its low estimate in our Entertainment Memorabilia sale. A packed room, with frenzied internet bidders from around the globe made for an extremely exciting sale. We are looking forward to our forthcoming sales in 2012 both in the US and UK.”