Hand for Sale! Princess Diana’s Hand for Sale!
A great holiday gift for just £40,000
Imagine your loved one waking up on Christmas morning and spotting it — a special present nestled under the tree, affixed with an extra-large name tag displaying their very name. They told you you didn’t have to get them anything this year, but they didn’t mean it. And you knew exactly what they wanted.
The anticipation builds. Your loved one pads over to the box in their holiday-themed socks. For me? they ask. For you, you say. They tear the paper gingerly and then with more zeal. What’s in the box? they think, reminding themselves of the movie Se7en. And indeed, what’s in the box is not that far off from what was in the box in the movie Se7en.
Oh, my God! Honey, how did you know? It’s Princess Diana’s left hand, cast in plaster by Croatian sculptor Oscar Nemon during a sitting at his studio in St. James's Palace just before his death in 1985; an image which we do not have the rights to display, but which you can see by clicking on this link. Babe!! It’s perfect …
Yes, Princess Diana’s plaster hand is going up for auction on November 8. The sale will take place at auction house Reeman Dansie in Colchester, Essex, and is expected to bring in £40,000 (nearly $46,000, for those of us across the pond). According to the Daily Mail, the plaster hand mold is rare and “thought to be the only one done during Diana's lifetime with her consent,” a statement that, I think you’d agree, raises more questions than it answers.
For the collector, it’s worth noting that Nemon also made a plaster cast of Winston Churchill's hand, and that this will also be up for auction on November 8. A perfect set of gifts for the other members of your throuple, whom you do not want to make jealous.
This holiday season, give them a “hand.” Princess Diana’s plaster hand, that is ;) — the only one made during her lifetime with her consent (?).
