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Ad Rates / Articles / Classified Ads / Editorial / Home / Links / Showtime   Princess Diana dress auction over in 25 minutes   List John Norris Next   Fourteen Diana dresses auctioned in Toronto   By John Norris It was all over in 25 minutes.   The 14 "important" dresses from the collection of the late Princess Diana, sold at a Waddington's auction in Toronto on June 23, were consigned by philanthropist Maureen Dunkel of Tampa Bay, Florida. Dunkel bought the dresses at Christie’s 1997 charity auction and “I did so strictly with the eye of an investor,” she writes in Waddington’s catalogue.   She said her strategy was "to collect an array of important dresses, which visually depicted the style transformation of the Princess. Her look had developed, from frilly, almost fantasy-looking pieces to sexy, streamlined creations.”   At its preview, Waddington’s displayed the gowns in a semicircle, with each gown spot lit. There they remained during the auction to be photographed by a bevy of press and auctioned by Duncan McLean, a tall handsome man with chiseled, facial features softened now by age.   “This is quite exciting," he said. "This is wonderful. A high point for our company”   Effusively praising the gowns, he said they were “arguably the best 14 dresses from the 1997 auction.” Though the phones were kept busy, most of the successful bidders were dispersed throughout a standing-room-only audience of professional-looking men and women in their 30s and 40s.   A favorite with bidders was Lot 3, the dark blue silk velvet, off-the-shoulder Victor Edelstein gown Diana wore at the White House state dinner given by President Reagan and his wife, where Diana danced with actor John Travolta.   McLean coined it “an incredibly important artifact.”   Estimated the highest at $800,000 to $1 million, it was hammered for its low estimate.   The gown had previously sold, along with 78 others, at Christie’s in New York in 1997 for $225,000, breaking the previous record of $145,500 held by the white pant suit Travolta wore in the movie Saturday Night Fever.   (Film critic Gene Siskel bought it originally in 1979 for just $2,000.) Also included were three dresses Diana wore during her 1997 Mario Testino shoot for Vanity Fair, plus several dresses created for specific state occasions and one worn for her official portraits.   Other dresses auctioned:   Lot 1: An evening dress in white silk chiffon designed by Zandra Rhodes opened the auction and hammered at a "bargain" $110,000 (est. $125,000 to $175,000).   Lot 6: (Photo at the top) A long evening dress of lilac wild silk with an embroidered bolero designed by Catherine Walker. Estimated at $375,000 to $425,000, it brought $340,000.   Lot 9: A formal cream-colored silk crepe dinner dress designed by Catherine Walker was estimated third highest at $250,000 to $300,000. It hammered at its low estimate.     Return to top of page   This Is Livin' Publishing © 2011 581 8th Line West, RR1 Hastings, ON, K0L 1Y0 Phone/Fax: 705-696-1833   webmaster