Rare items held closely by the royal family are set to go to auction in a history making event next month.
Of particular interest is a cast of the late Princess Diana’s hand.
For those feeling just as confused as we are, or perhaps feeling alarmed at where this item sprung up from, you aren’t the only one!
The cast in question was made by sculptor Oscar Nemon at his studio in St James’ Palace while he was working on a bust of the Princess of Wales just before his death in 1985.
A plaster cast of Princess Diana’s left hand by sculptor Oscar Nemon is going to auction at Reeman Dansie Auctioneers on Tuesday November 8, 2022.
(Credit: Reeman Dansie)
Handmade with care during numerous sittings, the cast is expected to sell for up to $71,000 AUD and even features indentations from where Diana’s engagement and wedding rings sat on her ring finger.
The cast, measuring 24 cm long, is currently owned by the late sculptor’s assistant who it seems is guaranteed to walk away with a major profit.
The auction house, Reeman Dansie, has described the item as “extremely rare”.
”This is believed to be a unique cast of Princess Diana’s hand made during her lifetime with her permission and obvious co-operation and is therefore of great importance and rarity,” its website listing reads.
”The process involves placing the hand in a liquid silicone bath which then sets to create a mold from which the cast is made in plaster of Paris.”
Photographs of Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II) during her time in the ATS in World War II are being sold at auction next week.
(Credit: Reeman Dansie)Less unusual but still just as unique, a number of rare photographs of a young Princess Elizabeth during her days in the British Armed Forces will also be going under the hammer.
The wartime snaps are of the future monarch during her service in the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS), the women’s branch of the British Army during the Second World War.
They show Princess Elizabeth driving a truck with her instructor Major Violet Wellesley, working on trucks, group shots and photos of the King and Queen visiting their daughter during her service.
The lot also includes Princess Elizabeth’s driver’s license. The War Department Driving Permit No.B1232 is named ‘H.R.H. Princess Elizabeth’ and stated “she has blue eyes, 5ft 4 inches high and has light brown hair”, according to the website.
It is dated March 1, 1945 and signed by the princess in ink, simply as ‘Elizabeth’.
The auction also includes a rare satin full-length petticoat made for the late Queen in the 1950s with “very fine hand made lacework top with crowned ER ciphers to fringe”.
Other items going to auction in Essex on Tuesday November 8 include a black handbag owned by Princess Diana and later gifted to a friend, handwritten notes by the Queen Mother, signed Christmas cards from King George VI and a number of Christmas cards signed by the Queen Mother and gloves worn by Wallis Simpson.
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