Iconic Dress Worn By Princess Diana Could Reel In $130K At Auction

Way back in 1994 an unnamed shop assistant came across a dress at a second-hand dress shop and decided to purchase it for $255. Well fast-forward 24 years later and that dress is about to be auctioned off where it is expected to fetch close to $130,000. Why? Because that dress originally belonged to none other than Princess Diana herself.

According to Daily Mail, the dress, designed by Elizabeth and David Emanuel, was originally donated to the second-half dress shop by a housekeeper of the nearby estate in Herefordshire, close to Diana’s friend Caroline Twiston-Davies. When that shop assistant bought the dress she intended to wear it to a ball. A ball she never attended. So the dress remained in her closet until she realized who was the original owner thanks to a documentary she saw that included Diana wearing the dress in the Gulf.

“The owner paid £200 ($255) for the dress,” auctioneer Kerry Taylor said. “She knew it belonged to Diana but didn’t realize its importance until several years later. She watched a documentary on the Princess that showed her wearing the dress and she realized it was the one sitting in a box in her wardrobe, unworn, in all that time.” Kerry adds, “Although there are millions of Princess Diana fans, there are relatively few people with the funds to afford a gown like this. However, it is a very important dress and we expect fierce bidding on the day. It is in perfect condition and is a unique one off piece.”

The dress was worn by Diana when she and Prince Charles attended a banquet hosted by the Emir of Bahrain.

This isn’t the first item of Diana that has been auctioned off as plenty of things belonging to Diana have landed in auctions. We recently learned that a supportive letter from 1995 that Diana wrote to a woman battling personal problems was expected to grab more than $5,000 at an auction. “I do know that it takes great courage to write as you did,” Diana wrote in the note. “With that honesty and clarity, the light will appear in your tunnel,” Diana added.

Don’t be surprised at all if this iconic dress fetches more money than originally expected.

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