Mohandas Gandhi's eyeglasses and other items sold for $1.8 million today at an auction that drew outrage from the Indian government, a last-minute reversal from the seller and a frenzy of bidding won by an Indian conglomerate that said the pacifist leader's possessions will be coming home.
The lot included Gandhi's wire-rim eyeglasses, worn leather sandals, a pocket watch, a plate and the brass bowl from which he ate his final meal.
The Indian government had protested the sale, saying the items should be returned to the nation and not sold to the highest bidder. The seller and the government could not work out a deal, and the auction went forward as planned.
But the self-identified owner, California art collector James Otis, told reporters outside the Antiquorum Auctioneers that he no longer wanted to sell the items. Meanwhile, U.S. Justice Department officials served an Indian court injunction on the auction house, blocking it from releasing the items.
Auctioneer Julien Schaerer announced as the sale began that the Gandhi items would be held for two weeks "pending resolution of third party claims."
Toni Bedi, an executive of the Indian company UB Group, had the winning bid after a furious four minutes in which the offers raced from $10,000 to $1.8 million. Bids came from the floor and by phone and Internet from overseas; none of the other bidders were identified.
Bedi said he was acting on instructions of Dr. Vijay Mallya, CEO of UB Group, whose firms in India include breweries, airlines, chemical, pharmaceutical and fertilizer firms and information and technology companies. He said that the company wants to donate the items to the Indian government, and plans to return them for public display in New Delhi.
The auctioneer's premium on the sale would boost the total price to around $2 million.
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