Napkin marked with Margaret Thatcher's red lipstick goes on sale

A napkin marked with a perfect red lipstick outline from Margaret Thatcher is being sold for £2,000.

The unusual piece of Iron Lady memorabilia has gone on sale with www.justcollecting.com and offers the chance to own a kiss from the iconic Tory Prime Minister.

Britain's only female democratically elected leader is understood to have used the napkin to remove excess lipstick while on a speaking tour of the US in 2000.

Mrs Thatcher stayed at the Pfister Hotel, in Milwaukee, when she was a keynote speaker at the Medical College of Wisconsin's annual healthcare dinner.

The former Conservative Party leader later travelled to Columbus, Ohio where - on April 2, 2000 - she spoke at the Ohio Theatre.

A Pfister hotel napkin with lipstick print was retrieved from Mrs Thatcher's waste basket in her dressing room by a theatre employee.

The employee provides a signed letter of provenance that reads, in part: 'I was working at the Ohio Theater at that time and one of my responsibilities was to empty the waste baskets backstage and in the dressing rooms.

'When I looked in Margaret Thatcher's dressing room waste basket, it only contained one piece of garbage: her lip-print on a napkin from the Pfister hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

'Instead of throwing it away, I saved the napkin with her lip-print.'

Thatcher memorabilia remains in great demand. A champagne bottle signed by Thatcher was just auctioned for £45,000 (Approx $67,500).

Her handbags have also sold for upwards of $100,000.

Adrian Roose, from justcollecting.com, said: 'Whilst we've seen Maggie's handbags and Spitting Image puppets sell for up to £100,000 a pop, in 20 years we've never seen a Maggie lipstick print, so it's a pretty unique piece.

'A true one off for a collector.'