Pianos, polaroids and Freddie Mercury’s Tiffany moustache comb: Why are we so fascinated by celebrity relics?

Half-eaten breakfast from Niall Horan, a tissue used by Scarlett Johansson, William Shatner’s kidney stone. As Freddie Mercury’s personal collection goes to auction at Sotheby’s, Laura Barton explores the ‘magical contagion’ that drives superfans to pay a fortune for celebrity memorabilia

Freddie Mercury’s iconic crown and robe at Sotheby's (Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for Sotheby's)

It is hard to know which item will garner most interest over the coming weeks – the tiny silver Tiffany & Co moustache comb, perhaps, or possibly the handwritten lyrics to “We Are the Champions”. There is, after all, much to choose from among the 1,400 lots from the personal collection of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, now open to the public ahead of a sale at London auction house Sotheby’s next month.

A black lacquered piano, once stationed in the singer’s drawing room, and upon which he wrote “Bohemian Rhapsody”, is expected to fetch somewhere between £2m and £3m. A selection of extravagant stagewear, from sequinned catsuits to red vinyl trousers, and of course the famous crown and robe worn for Queen’s final tour in 1986, which will likely draw vertiginous bids. But there are more affordable lots, too: 29 items of cat-themed paraphernalia. Polaroids. Vases. A travel Scrabble set.

Celebrity auctions often make headlines. In part, because of the bursts of glamour they offer – freeze-frame moments of cultural significance. But also the more quotidian insights into the lives of some of our biggest stars. They allow, too, a chance to marvel at the superfan’s peculiar acts of devotion. In 2008, for instance, Scarlett Johansson’s used tissue was sold on eBay for £3,600 (the price surely augmented by the actor’s claim that she had caught the cold that necessitated said tissue from none other than Samuel L Jackson). And significant sums have been paid for Michael Jackson’s burnt hair, Britney Spears’ pregnancy test, and William Shatner’s kidney stone. Not to mention the £72,000 set down for a piece of Vegemite toast half-eaten by One Direction singer Niall Horan.