An official coin dedicated to Freddie Mercury, minted by the United Kingdom Mint… as soon as I read the news, I called my friend and personal English correspondent and humankind’s best chemist and artificial intelligence expert, Shelly, who yesterday was standing in front of the Mac as if she were going backstage at Live Aid, only instead of Wembley Stadium there was a digital queue at the English Mint. “Now I have 354 in front of me.” She puts herself out there (perhaps crocheting, while reading the latest biochemistry essay, while proofreading her latest novel, while answering work emails, while talking to her husband) like when she decides that she’s going to take something from me (and I stay quiet, knowing it), and when she puts herself out there no collector cares.
How do I know? Kashmira Bulsara, Freddie’s sister, announced the release of the coin in an interview and herself struck the first one. The coin, it must be said, is very well made: Freddie is in a classic pose with a microphone, his head turned back (this is the most famous photo taken at Wembley in 1986), and on the rim is a motif inspired by the Live Aid bracelet, along with an engraved score representing his four-octave vocal range. The basic version starts from £18.50, the official version is for collectors. There is also a £9,350 version, a two ounce gold proof, confirmed by the Royal Mint and aimed at numismatists who invest in musical relics as much as they do physical gold.
Shelly, after about forty minutes in that delirious digital queue, actually placed and completed the order without saying anything heroic, her usual “okay, done,” as if she had just bought a can of tuna at the supermarket (instead she had just defeated an entire army of compulsively refreshing fans).
I would like to add two things: the first is Kashmira talking about the “King’s first coin” (fans often do this too), her brother, but Freddie is the queen (if not, then it’s not the Queen but the King).
The second is that England finally minted a coin with the only true queen that ever existed, and not just there, in the world. It’s kind of a miracle. Now I await my coins and greetings to you all, ladies and gentlemen, from the Queen, to you.
