Gandhi’s charkha sold for £30,420
An auction by specialist auctioneer Mullock’s in Ludlow, Shropshire, on Tuesday afternoon sold Mahatma Gandhi’s personal belongings including his round steel rimmed spectacles, wooden charkha and an Columbia disc with a spiritual message written and signed by him.
The Wooden charkha, which he used during his visit to London for the second Round Table Conference in 1931, sold second highest price in the lots of Gandhi artefacts.
The charka, in an “as used” condition that still retains its inner mechanism and is approximately 18x9x3 inches in size, was sold for £30,420, double the estimate of £10,000-£15,000.
Mahatma Gandhi, who was born in Porbander in Gujarat, was fluent in Gujarati and his prayer book in Gujarati, with his Gujarati signature on the inside cover was expected to sell for £4,000-£6,000. However, it was auctioned for £12,285.
A 10 inch 78 rpm Columbia disc with a spiritual message by Mahatma Gandhi, also signed by him, was expected to sell for £1,000- £2,000. It was sold for £2,570.
However, the soil from the spot of Gandhiji’s assassination did not sell for the price estimated by the auction house. It was expected to sell for between £10,000 and £15,000 and was sold for only £11,700.
The bit of the soil from the place that Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated on January 30, 1948 had been collected by a bystander, P.P. Nambiar, on the day of his death.
The soil, including blades of grass, is kept in small wooden casket containing a small glass topped box.
“I don’t know the identity of the buyer,” a Mullock’s spokesperson said. “However, I can tell you that the same person bought the spectacles owned by Mahatma Gandhi, along with the wooden charkha, the bit of soil from the place of his assassination, his prayer book in Gujarati and the music disc,” he added.
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