Items belonging to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, including rare artwork and personal items, have been put up for auction after an anonymous junkyard worker rescued them from storage.
“The exact circumstances of how these items were thrown away are unknown, although it is typical for storage companies to dispose of the contents of the units when accounts are closed,” Mark Wilkinson, auctioneer at Sworders Fine Art Auctioneers in Essex, in England. , said of the collection.
“There are some historical objects in the collection, which indicate some of the important relationships and events during Margaret Thatcher’s tenure as prime minister.”
The rare collection of artwork and personal items is a 22-inch-tall bronze plaster bust of President Ronald Reagan, who had a close friendship with Thatcher during their overlapping administrations.
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Reagan may have given her the bust during his state visit to the United States following the end of the Falklands War in 1982. The statue bore an “indistinct” signature and was dated “-82”.
A large bronze plaster bust of President Ronald Reagan and an oil painting of Margaret Thatcher seated in a blue dress in a green armchair. (Zachary Culpin/BNPS)
The statue was estimated to fetch up to £700 (about $850) at auction – it ended up selling for a whopping £9000, or just under $11,000, far more than any other item offered by the collection.
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The landfill worker found the items in the early 2000s as they were being taken out of storage and shipped to the landfill, following standard protocol. Amazed by what he had found, the worker took the items home for safekeeping.
Another prominent item is a photograph presented to the former prime minister by the 22nd SAS Regiment after the successful storming of the Iranian embassy after the 1980 siege. (Zachary Culpin/BNPS)
After her death, the man’s son decided to put the items up for auction.
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The collection also included a rare black and white photo of Thatcher flanked by three members of Britain’s elite SAS wearing gas masks and assault rifles. The photo bore the inscription: “To Mrs Thatcher of 22 SAS Regt.”
A painted study of a woven kilim suspended in a doorway, bearing the presentation inscription ‘Mrs. Thatcher, Remembering you Forever’ was also part of the sale (Swordsmen/BNPS)
The 22nd SAS Regiment successfully freed 26 hostages at the London embassy after a six-day siege, which greatly raised Thatcher’s profile at the time.
The photo, estimated at around £600 ($750), sold for more than double £1,500 (just over $1800).
Sworders estimated the best-selling item would be a painting of Thatcher seated in a blue dress in a green armchair, bearing a brass plaque reading: ‘From a true friend and admirer with best wishes on your birthday, October 13, 1995.”
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Despite the very clear and personal nature of the piece, and the signature of Professor Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie, the future Prime Minister of Indonesia at the time, the piece sold for just over £1,100 out of an estimate of £700.
