Kate Bain of Lyon and Turnbull auctioneers poses with Her Majesty's first auctioned-off undergarments in October 2011. As several news outlets have now reported, including the Economist (under the headline "Victoria's Secret"), a pair of Queen Victoria's underwear has sold at auction for £6,200 ($9,900 American) on October 12th. That's right. While you were celebrating the Alibaba IPO you missed out on a chance to buy the literally royal undergarments of the monarch who has ruled over the most expansive empire in human history (Napoleon and Hitler could only dream of covering as much of the globe as the sprawling British Empire did during the Victorian age). Betcha feel pretty stupid now. Apparently, this is some sort of bizarre, historical fetish industry. Another pair of Victoria's underwear sold for £9,375 ($14,950 American at the time) for triple the speculated amount. Never underestimate the prices eccentric gentry will pay for something historical, no matter how bizarre (in fact, the strangeness of the matter is probably a big bonus point). It may be a small industry -- only one other pair of genuine Victorian bloomers has been sold -- but there's hope for all of you who aspire to own what we'll just call the "Gold State Undercarriage". Upon her death in 1901, Queen Victoria bequeathed several dozen pairs of bloomers to her servants “for loyal service”, presumably because London was all out of fruit baskets. So there could be more where that came from down the (panty) line.