Freddie Mercury's 'shortest, tightest' leather shorts sell for £18,000

A pair of the "shortest, tightest" leather shorts worn by Freddie Mercury on stage have sold at auction for £18,000.

The singer wore the garment at several shows, including at Queen's sold-out Birmingham gig on 6 December 1980.

The shorts were referenced in a 1992 biography by Queen's fan club secretary Jacky Gunn, who said they "didn't leave much to the imagination".

Omega Auctions said they had been bought by an overseas bidder.

The Newton-le-Willows-based auction house said the shorts were originally purchased at a Queen Fan Club auction in Southport in 1993 and had been offered for sale with Gunn's signed letter of authenticity.

It said the 28in (71cm) waist shorts were worn by Mercury at several shows, but "most notably on stage during the encore for Queen's second sold-out night at the Birmingham Exhibition Centre" in 1980.

In the biography, Gunn and co-author Jim Jenkins wrote that Mercury "decided to try to shock the audience with his stage outfit for the encore: the shortest , tightest pair of black leather shorts he could find",

They said the garment "didn't leave much to the imagination, but no one complained".

The show came at the height of Queen's popularity and took place two days before the band released their tenth album, the soundtrack to the film Flash Gordon.

The auction house, which had put an estimate of £8,000 on the shorts, said the sale price was "incredible".

A representative said the wider sale, which also included a poster for the first ever Sex Pistols concert in 1975 selling for £34,700, had been "very strong and we are extremely happy to have achieved such fantastic results for our vendors".

The shorts sold a day before it was announced that one of Mercury's oldest friends was going to auction an intimate collection of 1,500 items belonging to the late Queen star.

The singer built up the collection over three decades and kept everything at his home in west London, which he left to Mary Austin.

It includes Mercury's handwritten working lyrics to one of Queen's greatest anthems, We Are The Champions, a red velvet and rhinestone crown he wore on stage and the telephone he kept beside his bed.

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