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               Margaret Thatcher's Iconic Handbags Go to Auction

   by Reuters

   Handbags owned by late British leader Margaret Thatcher, whose
   apocryphal use of the accessory as a tactical weapon gave rise to the
   term "handbagging", are to be auctioned off after a museum rejected
   them.

   They are among 350 "historic and personal lots" -- also including
   clothes, signed copies of speeches, her wedding dress and her red prime
   ministerial dispatch bag - that [1]auctioneers Christie's said on
   Tuesday would be offered at its London showroom on Dec 15 and later
   online.

   The sale presented a unique opportunity to buy items from the estate of
   Britain's longest-serving 20th century prime minister and the only
   woman so far to have held the office, Christie's said, adding that
   value estimates ranged from 200 to 180,000 pounds ($300-$280,000).

   'Handbagging'

   It noted the term "handbagging" was coined in the 1980s with reference
   to Thatcher's style in cabinet meetings, and defined in the Oxford
   English Dictionary as an action by a woman to "verbally attack or crush
   [a person or idea] ruthlessly and forcefully."

   The auction was announced after London's Victoria & Albert Museum,
   Britain's main repository of historic articles of clothing, said it did
   not deem the articles appropriate for its collection.




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   [2]http://www.voanews.com/content/margaret-thatcher-handbags-go-to-auct
   ion/3034675.html

References

   1. http://www.christies.com/features/Mrs-Thatcher-A-sale-offering-unique-insights-into-the-trajectory-of-the-Iron-Lady-6727-3.aspx?pid=en_homepage_row1_slot2_1
   2. http://www.voanews.com/content/margaret-thatcher-handbags-go-to-auction/3034675.html