“The museum is responsible for chronicling fashionable dress and its collecting policy tends to focus on acquiring examples of outstanding aesthetic or technical quality”, a statement read.
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Christie’s, which is the world’s largest auction house, announced on Tuesday that more than 300 items from Baroness Thatcher’s political and personal life are to be sold individually at auction in London at Christie’s headquarters and online to global buyers. The decision however wasn’t reached without a controversy – a phenomenon always synonymous to Thatcher while she was alive and much after her death.
John Whittingdale, the Culture Secretary and a former Parliamentary aide to Lady Thatcher, told The Telegraph: “Lady Thatcher took enormous care over what she wore and was always keen to promote British fashion”.
As the UK’s first (and only) female prime minister, Thatcher was aware of the media scrutiny of her image and cultivated a distinct sense of style.
With estimates ranging from £200 to nearly £200,000 depending on the piece, there is an opportunity for fans of the former Prime Minister and national historians alike to grab a piece from a collection that will feature lots as diverse as the red box that she used to carry official documents while she was in power, and her wedding outfit.
Dame Vivienne Westwood, the designer who admitted she was no “fan” of Lady Thatcher, said: “She was certainly in her lifetime the best-dressed woman”.
Her practice of berating ministers and lawmakers became known as “handbagging”.
Pieces from Thatcher’s jewelry collection include the sale’s most valuable lot, an emerald and diamond Chaumet necklace, with a presale estimate between £120,000-180,000 ($184,929-277,394), and a diamond brooch, with a presale estimate between £8,000-10,000 ($12,328-15,410). “I for one would have loved to see it!”
A few felt the collection should go on public display, and British media reported that London’s Victoria and Albert Museum had turned it down.
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The midnight blue wedding dress is expected to sell for up to £15,000.
