Sweater Sold for 1.5 Billion Won! Whose Clothes Were Worn...

Winning Bidder's Identity Not Disclosed
Also Appears in Drama 'The Crown'

The 'Black Sheep' sweater worn by Princess Diana of the United Kingdom was sold at an American auction for over $1.14 million (approximately 1.5 billion KRW).

According to AFP news on the 14th (local time), this sweater was worn by Princess Diana at a polo match in June 1981, shortly after her engagement to then-Prince Charles, now King Charles III, and was sold at Sotheby's auction in New York for $1,143,000. The identity of the winning bidder was not disclosed.

According to Sotheby's, this sweater sold for the highest price ever achieved at auction for a piece of Princess Diana's clothing. It is nearly twice the amount of the ball gown that was sold for $604,000 (approximately 800 million KRW) at an auction last January.
[Photo by AFP·Yonhap News]

This sweater, featuring a black sheep among a flock of white sheep on a red background, was interpreted by AFP as seemingly foreshadowing the 'difficult journey' Princess Diana would face within the British royal family.

Princess Diana endured a troubled marriage with Prince Charles and divorced in 1996, then died in a car accident in Paris, France, the following year.

Considered one of the iconic garments worn by Princess Diana during her lifetime, this sweater also appears in the Netflix drama about the British royal family, The Crown.

According to Sotheby's, this sweater sold for the highest price among all Princess Diana's clothing items ever auctioned. It fetched nearly twice the amount of the ball gown sold for $604,000 (approximately 800 million KRW) at an auction in January.

Bidding Price Soared Over 1 Billion KRW in the Last 15 Minutes

This sweater, considered one of the iconic garments worn by Princess Diana during her lifetime, also appears in the Netflix drama "The Crown," which depicts stories of the British royal family.
[Photo by AFP·Yonhap News]

Sotheby's had initially estimated the winning bid for this sweater to be between $50,000 and $80,000 (approximately 66 million to 100 million KRW), but the bidding surged so much that the auction had to be extended by several minutes. In the last 15 minutes, the bid price skyrocketed from $190,000 (approximately 250 million KRW) to $1.1 million (approximately 1.46 billion KRW).

Joanna Osborne, founder of the British fashion brand Warm & Wonderful, which made this sweater, discovered it in her attic last March.

Warm & Wonderful received a letter shortly after Princess Diana appeared at the polo match wearing this sweater, inquiring about repairs or replacement due to damage to the sweater's sleeve.

They subsequently sent a new sweater to Princess Diana and believed they had repaired and returned the original sweater to her, but it turned out that the original had been kept in Osborne's attic all along, AFP reported.

AFP also reported that this sweater was auctioned along with the repair request letter and a thank-you letter sent by Princess Diana's secretary at the time.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.