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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Alice Peacock

Cast of Princess Diana’s left hand could fetch £40,000 at auction

A life-sized cast of Princess Diana's left hand will be auctioned off next week with an expected sale price of £40,000.

The auction will take place the day before the premiere of the fifth season of The Crown, with the cast going under the hammer at Reeman Dansie in Colchester, Essex.

The auction comes 25 years after the late Princess' death at the age of 36 in a car crash in Paris.

She had been staying at the Paris Ritz with her lover, Dodi Fayed, and was being driven in a chaffeured limousine pursued by paparazzi photographers when the car crashed in a road tunnel, killing its driver Henri Paul and Mr Fayed.

The princess died shortly after in hospital. Her bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones survived the crash but was severely injured.

A French investigation later found that Henri Paul had been intoxicated by alcohol and under the effects of prescription drugs and held him solely responsible for the fatal crash.

The cast of the late princess's hand was made by renowned sculptor Oscar Nemon.

Items belonging to Diana typically cause a stir at auctions, with a black Ford Escort RS Turbo driven by her in the 1980s having sold earlier this year at Britain's Silverstone racing circuit for £650,000.

The cast is made be renowned sculptor Oscar Nemon (Reeman Dansie / SWNS)
The cast of Princess Diana's left hand (Reeman Dansie / SWNS)

The motor was driven from August 23 1985 to May 1 1988 and is believed to be the only example of the model made in black.

The Princess was photographed with the RS Turbo Series 1 outside the boutique shops of Chelsea and the restaurants of Kensington.

Sculptor Mr Nemon also did works of the late Queen and Winston Churchill, Metro reports.

A cast made by Mr Nemon of Sir Winston's right hand was also to be auctioned by Reeman Danise next Tuesday.

The item was expected to fetch between £5,000 to £7,000.

The item is expected to go for up to £40,000. (Reeman Dansie / SWNS)

Reeman Danise's royal specialist James Grinter said it was an "amazing feeling" to be able to hold the hands of two of the most famous influential Britons of the 20th century".

Other items in the sale included a signed portrait of the late monarch and pictures of her learning to drive and helping to repair cars.

A pink satin petticoat from the 1950s, tailor-made for her majesty, could also see bids as high as £1,500.

In 2011, two dresses worn by the princess sold for a record 276,000 US dollars (£168,000) at an auction in Beverly Hills, California.

The Prince and Princess of Wales on the balcony of Buckingham Palace on their wedding day (Getty Images)

Darren Julien, president and chief executive of Julien's Auctions, said that a black crepe evening gown Diana wore during a state visit in 1992 fetched the higher price of 144,000 dollars (£88,000).

A light blue strapless gown with accompanying stole sold for 132,000 dollars (£80,000) and was worn on three occasions, including the 1987 Cannes Film Festival.

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