An auction of George Michael's personal memorabilia, including the guitar featured in the Faith music video, has triggered a family dispute, according to a report.
The guitar is among several items from the collection of Michael's former personal assistant, Siobhan Bailey, who died in 2014, being sold by Sworders on Thursday.
Family Objection to the Sale
Bailey's brother, Gerard, told the BBC that the archive was offered to auction by her widower, Ian Belcher. He said his sister "would be horrified at the prospect of the auction being held in her name and that her personal, cherished possessions are being sold off to the highest bidder."
According to the BBC, Bailey was in the process of divorcing her husband but was legally still married to Belcher at the time of her death. She did not leave a will, meaning the collection passed to him.
Bailey told the BBC he accepted Belcher had the right to sell the items but claimed his sister was drafting a will before her death to leave the items to her nieces and nephews.
In a letter to the auction house, seen by the broadcaster, Bailey said the family considers the auction a "breach of his sister's privacy" and said using her name was "disingenuous," asking for the sale to be stopped or listed in Belcher's name.
Auction House Response and Items
A spokesperson for Sworders said: "We are not well placed to comment on a family matter, but such disputes are not uncommon in the auction business. In this case, as the BBC article makes clear, the legal title of the collection is not in question."
The auction house said Belcher was unavailable for comment. Bailey said Michael gave the guitar to his sister, who was his assistant for 20 years, as a gift because he "thought so much of her."
The guitar, which Michael plays while dressed in a black leather jacket and blue jeans in the Faith video, is expected to fetch more than £100,000. Other items include ring-bound tour itineraries from Michael's solo career and his time in Wham!.
There is also memorabilia from some of his most celebrated live performances, including a four-page running order from Live Aid in 1985 featuring his duet with Sir Elton John, Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me.
Memorabilia and Expected Total
Other items for sale include a gold disc for 500,000 UK sales of Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, estimated to fetch between £200 and £500. There are also rare cassettes and acetate singles, some marked "Not For Sale," and a number of signed photographs personally inscribed to Bailey.
The archive as a whole is expected to achieve more than £200,000. Guy Schooling, chairman of Sworders auctioneers, previously said the sale "will offer avid fans around the globe the chance to own not just pieces of music history, but objects that capture the spirit and ambition of one of pop's greatest and most-loved artists."
Michael, born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, had 13 number one singles in the UK. He came out as gay in 1998 and became an activist for LGBT rights and an HIV/Aids charity fundraiser. Michael died of heart disease on Christmas Day in 2016, aged 53.
