A pair of gold round lens goggles that belonged to Mahatma Gandhi were auctioned at a record price of £ 260,000 – nearly 20 times the expectation – in England, after being passed from generation to generation in a family for nearly 100 years and after having risked being thrown in the garbage. The glasses in the 1920s belonged to the then young Indian lawyer Gandhi, who used them for reading in South Africa. Gandhi gave them to a friend in whose family they have passed from generation to generation. The glasses then remained in a drawer inside a paper bag for almost fifty years, during which time they also risked being thrown away as a “useless object”.
Eventually a descendant decided to take them to the East Bristol Auctions auction house leaving them in the mailbox, half protruding out, accompanied by with a note: “These glasses belonged to Gandhi, please call me.” There they remained, half in and half out, from Friday to Monday morning. “They could have easily been stolen and ended up in the bucket,” auctioneer Andrew Stowe told British media. As for the owner, he says: “He told me, if he thinks they’re worthless, throw them away quietly.” But when it was heard that they could be sold for at least 15,000 pounds, things changed for the man. A collector bought the historical relic – defined by Stowe as “the most splendid lot of the century” – who offered the sum of 260,000 pounds (almost 290,000 euros) over the phone six minutes after the announcement. As for the man who was unsure whether to throw them away, he will now receive a “life-changing” sum, assures the Bristol auctioneer. (Video by Cristiano Sala) Last updated: 15:18
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