The Iron Lady of British Parliament has always been known for her no-nonsense style. And her boxy luxury handbags were part of her image back in the 1980s when she served as the Prime Minister of Britain. Margaret Thatcher may not be your regular style icon, but that has not stopped her handbags from becoming collector’s items.
The appeal of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s possessions was clearly evident at on Monday night at a charity auction held at Christie’s in London. The auction was organized author and politician Jeffrey Archer. Thatcher’s boxy handbag had been in her possession for over three decades. The handbag fetched a whopping 25,000 pounds ($39,800) at the auction.
The Thatcher handbag had its fifteen minutes of fame when the British Prime Minister posed for a photograph with United States President Ronald Reagan back in 1985 during an official trip to America. Archer had estimated that Thatcher’s handbag would sell for 100,000 pounds, but it only managed a quarter of that amount. The money raised from the sale of the bag will be donated to Combat Stress, Debra (which deals with genetic skin conditions) and The British Forces Foundation. The buyer of the bag is a Cypriot resident and Thatcher fan who studied in the United Kingdom during the Thatcher years.
Other items sold at the charity auction included an autographed Fender Telecaster guitar donated by Eric Clapton and a hospitality package to the Monaco Grand Prix next year, donated by F1 star Bernie Ecclestone. The guitar fetched 15,000 pounds. The F1 package managed 34,850 pounds.
