A Victorian-style silver snake bangle Freddie Mercury wore with an ivory satin catsuit in the video for Bohemian Rhapsody has sold for the highest price paid at auction for a piece of jewellery owned by a rock star as the late Queen frontman’s most prized possessions were sold.

Sotheby’s said the bracelet went on Wednesday (British time) for £698,500 ($1.4 million) – 100 times its estimated low price – as the singer and songwriter’s flamboyant stage costumes, handwritten drafts to hits such as We Are The Champions and the baby grand piano he composed Queen’s greatest hits on went up for sale.

The item broke a record set when John Lennon’s leather and bead talisman sold for £295,000 ($579,039) in 2008, Sotheby’s said.

The auction opened with the sale of the graffiti-tagged door to the garden of Mercury’s London home rapidly blowing past the high estimate of £25,000 ($49,000) projected before the sale.

The graffiti-covered original door to Mercury’s London home fetched £412,750. Photo: Supplied

The green door covered in hand-painted love notes from fans who made a pilgrimage to Garden Lodge in the tony Kensington section of London sold for an eye-popping £412,750 ($810,100) that included a buyer’s premium.

The collection was amassed by Mercury after Queen’s glam-rock produced an avalanche of hits that allowed the singer to achieve his dream of living a Victorian life “surrounded by exquisite clutter.”

More than 1400 items are being sold by Mercury’s close friend, Mary Austin, to whom he left his house and all its possessions when he died of AIDS-related pneumonia in 1991 aged 45.

Some of the proceeds from a series of live and online auctions were to go to charities. All of the proceeds of the sale of a Cartier onyx and diamond ring given to Mercury by Elton John that sold for £273,000 ($535,860) were to go to the Rocket Man singer’s AIDS charity.

Sotheby’s devoted all 15 of its galleries to display Mercury’s eclectic collection in a tribute that was like a museum exhibit that it opened to the public for free, drawing more than 140,000 visitors in just over a month.

People from around the world visited Freddie Mercury: A World of his Own, and the publicity drove up bidding for online auctions that began last month and close next week.

The exhibition drew more than 140,000 visitors to Sotheby’s London rooms. Photo: Supplied

Even the items that had seemed in reach for some buyers, quickly eclipsed estimates in online auctions.

A collection of chopsticks that was estimated to fetch £40-60 had a current bid £1200 ($2300) by Thursday (Australian time).

One of the quirkier items, a silver moustache comb from Tiffany & Co, that had been expected to set a buyer back £400-600  had a bid at £35,000 ($68,700).

The Yamaha baby grand piano on which Mercury wrote some of his biggest hits had been expected to reach bids as high as £3 million ($5.9 million) but sold for £1.7 million ($3.3 million).

Other items likely to be treasured by Queen fans were Mercury’s draft lyrics to hits Don’t Stop Me Now, We Are The Champions and Somebody to Love.

The handwritten draft of Bohemian Rhapsody – scratched on stationery from the defunct British Midland Airways – showed Mercury originally named the song Mongolian Rhapsody but changed his mind and crossed it out. It sold for about £1.4 million ($2.7 million).

– AAP