'Iron Lady' Margaret Thatcher's personal effects to go on sale

London: Personal items belonging to Britain's "Iron Lady" prime minister Margaret Thatcher, including some of her famous handbags, are to be sold in London next month, Christie's auction house said Tuesday.

Around 350 lots including clothes and jewellery accrued during her 87 years - 11 of which were spent in Downing Street - are being sold after the Victoria & Albert Museum turned them down.

An emerald and diamond Chaumet necklace, valued between £120,000 ($185,000, 168,000 euros) and £180,000, is expected to fetch the highest price, with proceeds to be split between Thatcher's children Mark and Carol, and her grandchildren.

"In the year that 'The Iron Lady' would have celebrated her 90th birthday, approximately 350 historic and personal lots will be offered across two landmark sales," said Christie's.

"These sales are taking place 25 years after Margaret Thatcher left office, at the end of her 11-year high-profile tenure as prime minister.

"These auctions present unique opportunities, across price levels, for collectors around the world to acquire property from the longest-serving prime minister of the United Kingdom in the 20th century and the only woman to have held office to date," it added.