Princess’ naughty Emo greetings off to American collection
A transatlantic tussle over the pair of naughty Emotional Rescue greeting cards sent by Princess Diana ended in victory for an American buyer – at nearly double the auction estimate!
The cheeky designs from Emo’s early 90s GirlsTalk range went under the hammer on Wednesday, 17 May, with the final figure hitting £7,000, not bad for the cards which originally retailed at just 95p and had gone on sale with a £3,000-£5,000 price in the catalogue from Dominic Winters Auctioneers.
“We are very happy with the result, as is the vendor,” auctioneer and director Chris Albury, who specialises in books, manuscripts, ephemera and photography for the Gloucestershire business, told PG Buzz.
“There was a lot of internet bidding so it started off at £3,000 immediately and then eventually became a two-way battle between a UK phone bidder and an internet bidder in the USA. Both of them were women with the internet bidder winning out as the bidding slowed down after £5,000.
“I haven’t spoken to the winning bidder but know her from buying Diana items previously so I expect she’s very happy to have won these.”
Described as adult humour cards, lot 296 in the Photographs, Autographs & Documents, British Royal Memorabilia auction shows both cards have Mike Edwards’ cartoons on the front with the punchline inside, one says: “Adam came first…Men always do!” and the other has: “What’s the definition of the perfect man?…A midget with a 10″ tongue who can breathe through his ears!”
The Princess of Wales, who died in 1997, had written “Dearest Tino, fondest love as always, from Diana” and “Dearest Tino, lots of love from Diana”, adding “I couldn’t decide which card to send & then thought you’d enjoy both!” on the Perfect Man design.
Other lots of individual Christmas and new year cards from the early years of Charles and Diana’s marriage, also went under the hammer at prices between £600 and £850, plus 20 Prince Andrew and Sarah Fergusson greets went for £1,000, and £3,300 being paid for a 125-strong collection of greeting cards from various royals.
The highlight of the day was a manuscript about cheese from the 1580s which fetched £45,000 – and prices have an extra 20% buyers’ premium, or 24% for items where vat is applicable, such as the cards, making the total price for the pair of 95p Emo greeting cards £8,680.
Top: Diana’s greetings went under the hammer at Dominic Winters Auctioneers
