On Friday 22nd August, a pair of gold-plated glasses worn by Mahatma Gandhi were auctioned for £260,000 after being found hanging in the letterbox of a Bristol auction house.
“We found them just four weeks ago in our letterbox, left there by a gentleman whose uncle had been given them by Gandhi himself. Incredible result for an incredible item! Thanks to all those who bid,” East Bristol Auctions wrote in their Instagram post on Friday.
The spectacles were bought through a phone bid from an American collector after six minutes of bidding on Friday, the BBC reported. Auctioneer Andrew Stowe said it was a new record for East Bristol Auctions and described it as "the star lot of the century". Mr Stowe said the owner of the glasses was an elderly man from Mangotsfield who said he would split the money with his daughter. The glasses had been expected to sell for about £15,000.
The auctioneer had previously told Sky News that the vendor had said, “If they’re no good, just throw them away.”
When Stowe had suggested the glasses might be worth £15,000 the man “nearly fell off his chair”.
He said, “It’s a phenomenal result. These glasses represent not only an auction record for us, but a find of international historical importance.”
Gandhi was known for giving old or unwanted pairs of spectacles to those in need or to those who had helped him. He gave the glasses to the vendor’s uncle while he was working for British Petroleum in South Africa during the 1920s or 30s, said the auction house. The glasses had been lying in a drawer for nearly fifteen years and were left in a plain white envelope in a letter box at East Bristol Auctions.
