A pair of Queen Victoria's stockings fetched £8000 at auction yesterday.
A pair of Queen Victoria's stockings fetched £8000 at auction yesterday.
The black-and-white stockings were bought for the Ruddington Framework Knitters' Museum in Nottingham by David Alcock, whose father-in-law, Jack Smirfitt, was a curator at the museum.
Mr Alcock, a 52-year-old mechanic from north Wales, saw off bids from as far away as Canada for the stockings, which were discovered in the loft of a former teacher.
The list price for the stockings in the auction catalogue was £200. As bids rose above £5000, there were gasps of disbelief from collectors who had gathered for the auction, near Derby.
In July, a 50in pair of Queen Victoria's bloomers fetched £4500 at auction, prompting the original owner of the stockings, 82-year-old Mary Youings, to contact auctioneer Charles Hanson.
