A collection of George Michael memorabilia has been sold for £238,310, about €286,000, at an auction that has exposed a dispute among people close to the singer. The 32-lot sale, titled "Faith & Fame: A Personal George Michael Collection", was handled by Sworders on 29 October. The items had been kept for two decades by Siobhan Bailey, Michael's personal assistant from 1984. The British singer died in December 2016.
Bailey, described by her brother Gerald as one of the few people Michael fully trusted, died in 2014 at the age of 56 from cancer, two years before the singer. She left no registered will and, although she was in the middle of a divorce, was still legally married to Ian Belcher. Her estate, including the Michael memorabilia, passed to him.
The sale has angered Gerald Bailey. He told the BBC that his sister intended to leave her possessions to her nephews and nieces and had begun preparing a will before her death, but the document was never formalised. He wrote to Sworders asking it to cancel the auction or at least remove Siobhan's name from promotional materials, calling it "shameful" and "dishonourable" to present the collection as linked to her. He also questioned using her name to add value when the decision to sell belonged to Belcher, and said that if she had survived her belongings would not have ended up with him because the divorce was practically settled.
Sworders declined to enter the family dispute, saying it was not for the auction house to intervene and that the legal ownership of the objects was not in question. Belcher justified selling them by saying they could not remain stored indefinitely and risked deteriorating over time.
The controversy did not prevent strong interest. The top lot was the 1945 Gretsch Synchromatic guitar Michael used in the video for "Faith". Estimated at £60,000 to £120,000, about €71,000 to €142,000, it sold for £180,000, about €216,000. Michael had given it to Bailey after using it in the 1987 video.
Other results included a Wham! gold disc at £4,500, about €5,400, a recognition the singer received from Málaga City Council at £1,300, and a signed copy of the Five Live EP, linked to Queen and featuring Michael, at £7,000, about €8,400. The collection also included photographs, concert tickets, invitations, programmes, tour itineraries, gold and platinum discs, material related to the 1985 Live Aid concert, a Filofax from the 1988 Faith tour with notes by Bailey, and a note signed by Michael and Andrew Ridgeley.
Sources: La Vanguardia.