Bristol company auctions Mahatma Gandhi's glasses for £260,000

A PAIR of glasses believed to have been used by Mahatma Gandhi has been sold for £260,000, after it was found in an envelope sticking out of a Bristol-based auctioneer’s letterbox.

Reports said an American collector bagged the spectacles – initially estimated to fetch about £15,000 – through "a phone bid" on Friday (21).

"It's a phenomenal result," auctioneer Andrew Stowe of East Bristol Auctions told BBC.

"These glasses represent not only an auction record for us, but a find of international historical importance," he said, adding that it was "the star lot of the century".

"We found them just four weeks ago in our letterbox, left there by a gentleman whose uncle had been given them by Gandhi himself," East Bristol Auctions wrote on Instagram after the sale.

Stowe added that the specs, which had remained in the letterbox over a weekend, "could quite easily have been stolen or fallen out or just ended up in the bin".

"Someone popped them into our letterbox on a Friday night and they stayed there until Monday – literally hanging out," Stowe had said ahead of the auction.

"One of my staff handed them, to me and said there was a note saying they were Gandhi's glasses."

Stowe said he almost "fell off his chair" on discovering the glasses' provenance.

He said the owner – an elderly man from Mangotsfield -- did not know the value of the glasses, and "nearly had a heart attack" on being told about the piece's initial valuation (£15,000).

"These glasses had been lying in a drawer for the best part of fifty years," Stowe said after the auction. "The vendor literally told me to throw them away if they were 'no good'. Now he gets a life-changing sum of money."

One of the owner’s relatives had reportedly got the specs as a gift from Mahatma Gandhi while working for British Petroleum in South Africa in the 1920s .

"A pair of early 20th century c1920 gold plated circular rimmed spectacles, by repute, owned and worn by Mahatma Gandhi," the auction catalogue said.

"The spectacles of usual form, with sprung gold plated arms and prescription lenses. Jointed by a gold plated nose bar, the spectacles formed an important and somewhat iconic part of Gandhi's overall appearance."

It noted that Gandhi "would often give away his old or unwanted pairs to those in need or those who had helped him".

"The uncle working for British Petroleum at the time was stationed in South Africa, and it can be presumed that these were gifted by way of thanks from Gandhi for some good deed," the auction house said.

Stowe said the glasses were "probably the most important find we have ever had as a company".

"It's a really great auction story – and one that we all dream of," he added.

"An incredible result for an incredible item!"