Gandhi Memorabilia Collection Sold at Auction

Over 50 items of Mahatma Gandhi memorabilia were recently sold by Mullock’s, a British auction house in Ludlow, Shropshire. 

Among the most valuable items sold were Gandhi’s last will and testament and the size eight sandals he wore in the 1920s.  Other items sold include a shawl hand-woven by Gandhi, a British Parliament paper declaring him a terrorist, his rice bowl, his bed linen, his prayer beads, and three carved wise monkeys.  A Gandhi blood sample failed to sell, because it did not meet the 10,000-pound reserve price.

In 1924, Gandhi gave many of these items to a close friend whose family kept them until deciding to sell.  In response to numerous Gandhi auctions over the past decade, the Indian government continues to claim it should have the right of first refusal on these national treasures.

See Leon Watson, Mahatma Gandhi’s Last Will and Testament and the Iconic Sandals He Wore in the 1920s Sell at Auction, Daily Mail, May 21, 2013.