Iron Lady Thatcher’s Castoffs Go Under The Hammer After V&A Snub

Cast offs from the Collection of The Right Honourable Baroness Thatcher are to be offered by Christies after being rejected as a potential gift by the V&A, a story in today’s Daily Telegraph reports. In the year that ‘The Iron Lady’ would have celebrated her 90th birthday, approximately 350 personal lots will be offered across two landmark sales: a flagship auction presenting 150 lots will take place in London at Christie’s headquarters on Tuesday 15 December, and an online only sale comprising 200 lots will open for bids on Thursday 3 December and run for two weeks until 16 December. These sales are taking place 25 years after Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013) left Office, at the end of her 11 year high profile tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1979-1990).

Providing public and private insights into the trajectory of a political titan, these sales present items relating to Margaret Thatcher’s time in Office, including her red leather Prime Ministerial Dispatch box (estimate: £3,000-5,000), signed copies of key speeches and an award presented to her from President Ronald Reagan,alongside jewellery, clothes and handbags. Among the most personal lots is Mrs Thatcher’s wedding outfit, as well as much loved early English porcelain, silver and gold boxes. The most valuable lot is an Art Deco emerald and diamond necklace by Chaumet (estimate: £120,000-180,000). The property is being sold on behalf of beneficiaries of Baroness Thatcher’s estate as part of the arrangements following her death in 2013.

These auctions present opportunities, across price levels, for collectors around the world to acquire property from the longest serving Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the 20th century and the only woman to have held Office to date. Estimates range from £200 up to £180,000.

Photo: © Norman Parkinson/Bettmann/Corbis

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