A couple of the iconic round glasses that belonged to the leader of Indian independence, Mahatma gandhi, who would have given them “in gratitude for a good deed”, were sold for 260,000 pounds ($ 340,000), announced the East Bristol Auctions auction house.
“We found them just four weeks ago in our mailbox, left there by a man whose uncle had received them from Gandhi himself. An incredible result for an incredible object! ”, The auction house expressed on Instagram, along with a video of the sale carried out on Friday night.
The gold-framed round lens glasses were estimated to be worth between £ 10,000 and £ 15,000 ($ 14,500 and $ 22,500).
How was the discovery of the glasses
One of the curators of East Bristol Auctions, Andrew Stowe, told Sky News that the glasses used by Gandhi were left in an envelope in the auction house mailbox.
“One of my colleagues picked it up, tore the envelope and found a note that said, ‘These glasses belonged to Gandhi, call me,’” Stowe recounted.
After calling the seller, the auctioneer reported: “We searched, investigated and found that it was a historical discovery … I called the man, who said: ‘If they are worth nothing, get rid of them.’
However, when the seller learned of its estimated value, he couldn’t believe it, Stowe said.
Mahatma Gandhi “often gave his old or no longer wanted glasses to those who needed them or to those who had helped him,” the auction house explained in a statement.
The pair of glasses was donated by Gandhi in the 1920s to the seller’s uncle, who at the time was working for British Petroleum in South Africa. “They were supposed to be offered as thanks by Gandhi for a good deed,” the statement concluded.
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