Mahatma Gandhi is one of the most revered and followed leaders that the world has ever produced. His ideologies of non-violence and peace are now practiced across the world.
Little wonder then that a pair of gold-rimmed glasses worn by this iconic leader has sold for a whopping £260,000 in Britain! This is more remarkable considering that they were expected to sell for a mere £15,000.
The spectacles were sold to an American collector after a mere six minutes of bidding, creating a new record for the auction house East Bristol Auctions.
“It’s a phenomenal result. These glasses represent not only an auction record for us, but a find of international historical importance,” auctioneer Andrew Stowe said.
Interestingly, these spectacles were found sticking out of the auction house’s letterbox in a plain white envelope earlier. It has been reported that the owner of the glasses is an elderly man from Mangotsfield, who had no idea how precious they were.
“These glasses have been lying in a drawer for the best part of fifty years. The vendor literally told me to throw them away if they were ‘no good’. Now he gets a life-changing sum of money,” Stowe told BBC.
The glasses were procured by a relative of the owner who had met Gandhi in 1920 in South Africa and have been passed across generations in the owner’s family. The famous leader was known to give away his belongings and personal items to those in need.
We can’t help but wonder how astonished the owner of the glasses might have been after the auction!
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