Height: 18cm (7.2in)
Provenance:
The Baroness Thatcher (1925-2013), UK Prime Minister, 1979 to 1990.
Christies, London. Mrs Thatcher: The Online Sale. 3-16.12.
Blue glass and enamels. Footed bowl emblazoned with the coat of arms of Margaret Thatcher, The Baroness Thatcher (1925-2013), as used before her installation as a Lady Companion of the Garter in 1995.
The present version of Mrs Thatcher’s coat of arms was granted by the College of Arms in 1992, two years after leaving office as Britain's first female prime minister and its longest-serving of the 20th century. It includes the dexter supporter as an Admiral of the Royal Navy, to commemorate the victory of the Falklands War (1982). The sinister supporter is Sir Isaac Newton, to recognise her earlier career as a scientist. The key and the two royal lions of England represents her tenure as Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury. The tower and portcullis represents her time at the Palace of Westminster as Member of Parliament. The lozenge in place of a shield shaped escutcheon is customarily used in heraldry for a woman though the later 1995 version of her arms designed by the Garter King of Arms Sir Colin Cole, displays an escutcheon but with a plain white inescutcheon to denote that the shield was her own and not her father’s. Beneath the lozenge hangs the ribbon and insignia of the Order of Merit to which she was appointed in 1990.