Tourists in Edinburgh may not have been aware that the sale was taking place, but the eventual buyer was apparently very intent on securing the purchase of the silk stockings, as the garment was only valued at £400. Auctioned by Lyon and Turnbull, the black and white tights are described as dating back to 1874, with crests sewn into the item. Head of antiques at the company Lee Young explained that such a garment would be seen as quite a find for any collectors of clothing from that era. Back in 2008, a pair of bloomers that once belonged to the same monarch was sold for £4,500, with the original asking price set at £500, according to the BBC. Those undergarments showed that Queen Victoria’s waist by about the 1890s was around 50 inches.

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