A Cecil Beaton sketch of Christian Dior working in his studio in Paris sold for £5200 (estimate £500-700) as part of the estate of society dress designer Ian Thomas (1929-93).

Extracted from Antiques Trade Gazette | Roland Arkell

The contents of Thomas’ Cotswolds country home, inherited by a friend and largely untouched since, were sold by Amersham Auction Rooms in Buckinghamshire on October 31.

Thomas was dress designer to the queen and other members of the royal family for over 30 years, working first under Thomas Hartnell and then under his own label from 1969.

Beaton was a personal friend and Thomas owned many of his photographs and pen and ink portrait sketches – including this characterful 20 x 15in (51 x 40cm) study dated 1953 above, just six years after Dior presented his first collection. A similar sketch of Queen Elizabeth in her Coronation regalia was sold online at £1250.

The archive included an eclectic range of fashion and royal memorabilia.

Thomas’ royal warrant dated January 1973 sold via thesaleroom.com at £3200 (estimate £100-200), while a swatch of embroidery produced in preparation for the 1953 Coronation gown, later framed as a pole screen, also sold to an online bidder at £3000.