Iconic Princess Diana Sweater Featured in ‘The Crown’ to Hit the Block at Sotheby’s

Deep-pocketed devotees of the late Princess Diana, mark your calendars: one of her iconic frocks hits the auction block next month with a $50,000 low estimate.

The red wool sweater will be offered by Sotheby’s this August. It’s one of her more famous garments, adorned with rows of white sheep punctuated by a single black one—a nod, perhaps, to her own outsider status in the royal family. 

Per the auction house, the 19-year-old Lady Diana was photographed in a version of the sweater at a polo match in June 1981, soon into her engagement to the then-heir to the English throne, Charles Spencer.

The sweater for sale, however, is a replica created for Diana by the designers Sally Muir and Joanna Osborne, who ran the knitwear label Warm & Wonderful. As the story goes, Spencer ripped the original garment and, after consulting with the designers, requested the black sheep be added to its replacement. She was first photographed in the iconic second version in 1983. A slew of replicas have been made since then, only for the long-lost original to be discovered by the designers stored in an attic earlier this year. 

Cynthia Houlton, Sotheby’s global head of fashion and accessories, said in a statement that “this exceptional garment, meticulously preserved, carries the whispers of Princess Diana’s grace, charm, and her keen eye for fashion.” 

The sweater, which carries an estimated price of $50,000–$80,000, will be exhibited at Sotheby’s New York from September 7 through 13, with online bidding opening August 31 and running through September 14.

Diana-related items tend to do well at auction. In January, Spencer’s Victor Edelstein-designed ballgown fetched $604,800 at Sotheby’s.