February 7, 2023 9.00 pm This story is over 23 months old

Thatcher memorabilia saved from tip sells for £15k at auction

From Thatcher’s office to the tip to the auction house

By Local Democracy Reporter

Archived items that used to belong to Maragaret Thatcher have been sold at auction for £15,000 after being saved from a waste disposal site two decades ago.

Memorabilia including photographs, a large bronze bust of ex-American President Ronald Reagan and an oil painting of Grantham-born former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher herself were found at a waste disposal site in London some 20 years ago.

They were thankfully saved from the scrapheap, and went to auction at Sworders in Essex on Tuesday.

The lucky seller’s father worked in the waste industry and was surprised to find a host of materials relating to the first female British Prime Minister when he was at work in the early 2000s.

They were taken home as souvenirs and passed on to his son as he died five years ago, which is what brought them to the auction house in 2023 – where they were sold for a collective total of £15,000 plus buyer’s premium.

A bronze cast of former American President Ronald Reagan was among the star attractions. | Photo: Sworders

Noteworthy lots in the auction were a large bronze plaster bust of Ronald Reagan, purportedly presented to Margaret Thatcher by the former President during his state visit in 1982. This sold for £11,700.

An unsigned oil painting of the Iron Lady was also within the auction, boasting a brass plaque which reads: “From a true friend and admirer with sincere best wishes on your birthday, 13th October 1995.”

It was signed by minister and future Prime Minister of Indonesia Professor Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie, and took £1,400 at auction.

The walnut box and photograph of Thatcher with the 22nd SAS Regiment. | Photo: Sworders

Two items sold for a further £1,900, in the form of a walnut box bearing a plaque that states it was given to Thatcher during her visit to Bellingham International Airport in March 1991, and a photograph of Thatcher flanked by the 22nd SAS Regiment after storming the Iranian Embassy at the end of a siege in 1980.

Mark Wilkinson, head of Out of Ordinary auctions at Sworders, said: “The exact circumstances how these items came to be thrown away are unknown – although it is typical for storage companies to dispose of the contents of units when accounts are closed.

“There are some historic objects in the collection, items that point towards some of the important relationships and events in Margaret Thatcher’s tenure as the PM.”

The buyers of these items have not yet been revealed.


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