Christie's auction opposed

Christie's auction opposed

BANGKOK (DPA): A Thai princess who says she is heir to
hundreds of royal letters to be auctioned by Christie's later
this month has flown to London to try to stop the sale, news
reports said yesterday.

Christie's sale of autographed letters and manuscripts set for
Nov. 29 includes more than 400 letters written by members of the
Thai royal family a century ago, including one of the country's
most revered monarchs, King Chulalongkorn.

Thailand's Fine Arts Department had earlier announced it had
set aside 500,000 baht (US$20,000) to bid for the letters.

Khunying Narisa Chakrabongse, granddaughter of Prince
Chakrabongse, whose correspondence is also in the collection, is
requesting that Christie's stop the sale because the "letters
were missing", according to her private secretary, Paisal
Piammettawat.