Gandhi memorabilia goes under the hammer in London

Mangalore Today / PTI

Thrissur, Apr 18, 2012: A pinch of soil and blood-stained blades of grass from the place where Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated in 1948 was sold today for 10,000 pounds at an auction here.

The auction also saw many other Gandhi memorabilia going under the hammer including his iconic round-rimmed glasses that fetched far more than the estimated price.  In all, the Gandhi-related items fetched over 100,000 pounds in the auction by the Shropshire-based auctioneer, Mullock’s.

The memorabilia included a pair of Gandhi’s round-rimmed glasses, ‘charkha’, a 10 inch 78 rpm Columbia disc of Gandhi giving his spiritual message signed by him, and original photographs of Gandhi visiting London in 1931.  

 

Antony Chittattukara, a retired teacher and an ardent Gandhian himself, said these priceless Gandhi memorabilia would be put for bid by global auctioneers, Mullocks at Ludlow Racecourse, London.

The auction date was announced after completing all formalities like furnishing clarifications for the authenticity of the articles and circumstances under which they came into his possession, Chittattukara said.

Antony said his collection of the Gandhi memorabilia, included eight letters, some of the hand-written post cards and others typed, the spectacles used by Gandhiji when he was a law student in London and a piece of flannel given by a London optician with the reading glass.

 

The collection also comprises a prayer book in Gandhi’s mother tongue Gujarati, and a gramaphone record containing the speeches he had delivered during his prayer meetings, Antony said.

He said he had kept these items in bank lockers for about 20 years.
Antony said earlier some auctioneers had approached him offering huge amounts for his collection but he was reluctant to part with them as he believed that no price could match the true value of these articles that belonged to the Mahatma.

 

 

These items, which he got from eminent Gandhian Raghava Poduval several years ago, were sent to the auctioneers three months ago thinking that they would reach safe hands who would preserve them for future generations, he added.

 

 

According to Chittattukara, the soil soaked with the Mahatma’s blood was collected by one Subedar P P Nambiar, who was part of the security guards posted outside the Birla House before Gandhi was shot dead.

 

 

Nambiar had kept it with him for long. Some time back, he issued an advertisement in newspapers in Kerala that he was willing to hand it over to persons who are ready to preserve it. Chittattukara then approached Nambiar and got a pinch of it from him for his collection.