A Yamaha grand piano used by Freddie Mercury during a major period of Queen’s career is heading to auction this October.
The Yamaha C3 comes from Munich’s famous Musicland Studios, where Mercury used it to write and record both solo material and Queen songs (via Hypebeast). Propstore expects it to fetch between £200,000 and £400,000, with the upper estimate worth roughly $528,000.
Its connection to Queen goes well beyond a single song. The piano was used during sessions for The Game, Hot Space and The Works, and Mercury reportedly played it while working on Crazy Little Thing Called Love. Musicland welcomed plenty of other famous names too, including The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Donna Summer.
The piano is part of the Reinhold Mack Collection, an 81-lot archive kept by Queen’s longtime producer and his son Freddie Jr., who was Mercury’s godson. Among the other pieces heading to auction is an AKG C414 EB microphone used for Mercury’s studio vocals, along with handwritten lyrics from some of his early solo work.
Mack’s family held onto the collection for decades, largely because of the memories attached to it. The producer has spoken about Mercury as being more than just a colleague, with his Munich home becoming somewhere the singer could get away from the pressures of fame.
Anyone wanting a closer look before the auction will get the chance in London. The collection will go on public display at The Cumberland Hotel from September 23, ahead of Propstore’s Music Memorabilia Live Auction on October 1 and 2.
For Queen fans with very deep pockets, the piano is more than another piece of memorabilia. It was actually there during an important stretch of the band’s recording history, which makes its trip to the auction block particularly special.