London: Mahatma Gandhi's personal effects and documents, including his prayer beads, blood sample, leather chappals and the iconic leader's last will and testament, went under the hammer on Tuesday fetching a whopping 300,000 pounds. The last will and testament of Mahatma Gandhi proved to be the highlight of the auction of rare documents and items associated with the Father of the Nation in a small English town on Tuesday.
The "highly important" handwritten will on folio paper beat its estimate of 40,000 pounds to fetch 55,000 pounds, adding to an overall total of over 300,000 pounds. However, another keenly watched lot containing a fragment of Gandhi's blood on a microscopic slide could not match up to the guide price of 10,000 pounds and sold for just 7,000 pounds. "While the blood sample may be sacred for some, the will is an extremely important historical document. It is
hand-written in Gujarati and signed by Gandhi," Richard Westwood-Brookes, historical documents expert for Mullock's auctioneers, told PTI from the auction site at Ludlow Racecourse in Shropshire.
The slides of Gandhi's blood date back to 1924 when he was in convalescence from an appendectomy near Mumbai. He is believed to have donated the blood to the family he was staying with at the time. "It is an important and rare artefact but we also have Gandhi's shawl and sandals, which have attracted tremendous interest," Westwood-Brookes added in reference to other key items that went under the hammer on Tuesday....
09:40 PM, May 21, 2013
Mahatma Gandhi's great grandson Tushar Gandhi joined IBNLive readers for an interaction on Mahatma Gandhi's blood being auctioned in London. Q. You can access both political and diplomatic power as being a political leader. Did you try to stop this auction? honestly if my father's or grandfather's blood would have been auctioned like this, I would have even gone to the international court. Asked by: pc1 A. My Blood boils...
05:16 PM, May 21, 2013
London: A large collection of Mahatma Gandhi's memorabilia will go under the hammer on Tuesday in London. Auction house Mullocks will auction the collection including a copy of a will, a pair of worn out sandals, a shawl woven by Gandhi himself, recordings of his speeches and a microscope slide with a drop of his blood. The auction house is already facing flak for selling Gandhi's belongings. But it is...
08:45 AM, May 21, 2013
New York: A topless portrait of the late actress Beatrice Arthur has gone under the hammer at Christie's auction house here, fetching $ 1.9 million. The portrait, titled 'Bea Arthur Naked', was created by artist John Currin and was sold for the huge amount at Christie's auction of post-war and contemporary art, reported Huffington Post. The final offering met its estimates of receiving between $ 1.8 million and $ 2.5...
01:10 PM, May 19, 2013
Geneva: A huge diamond unearthed in Botswana commanded an unearthly price of $26.7 million from Christie's auction house on Wednesday amid the spring ritual of well-heeled bidders flocking or phoning in to Geneva's luxury sales. The pear-shaped gem accounted for more than a quarter of the $102 million in sales rung up by Christie's Wednesday night, a night after Sotheby's had $78 million in sales. "A perfect diamond commands a...
09:40 AM, May 16, 2013
New Delhi: Market regulator Sebi will hold an auction on Monday for grant of permission to Foreign Institutional Investors for investments worth up to Rs 29,000 crore in government bonds. At the auction to be held on the BSE platform by Securities Exchange Board of India (Sebi), FIIs would be able to bid for investment limits of Rs 24,621 crore in the long-term government debt securities and the remaining Rs...
10:01 AM, Apr 22, 2013
London: Angelina Jolie's topless photograph with a white horse will be auctioned in London's Christie auction house next month. The 37-year-old's coloured photograph shows her topless with her head held back and hands caressing a white horse's head as the animal nuzzles her chest, reported Sun Online. The photo is auctioned as a part of The Wild Side of Photography sale. Jolie was photographed by David LaChapelle in 2001 when...
11:55 AM, Apr 17, 2013
New Delhi: Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal has asked a committee, which is examining the conditions for allocation of spectrum to different entities, to submit its report soon. The Minister approved a note for expansion of the committee on April 1, 2013 and asked the panel to submit its report in one month from the date of its reconstitution, official sources said. "The issue (spectrum assignment) impacts other ministries such as...
02:15 AM, Apr 13, 2013
New Delhi: Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Wednesday said the benchmark price for spectrum auction is "unrealistic" and favoured lowering of reserve price as the previous two attempts to sell airwaves were "unsuccessful". "Spectrum is a national resource. We had two unsuccessful attempts to auction it. It's quite clear that reserve price is too high. "What actually I suggested is that we have a choice, we can...
01:07 AM, Apr 11, 2013
The government has rejected a request by a unit of Vodafone Group Plc's to extend its mobile phone licenses in three key service areas, the operator said, escalating a feud between carriers and the Centre in the world's second-biggest mobile phone market. ...
01:38 PM, Mar 23, 2013
The Department of Telecom has asked Bharti Airtel to stop offering third generation (3G) services in seven circles where the company does not hold spectrum. "Airtel has been asked to stop 3G services and file a compliance report by 3pm on March 18, 2013," sources said. ...
05:10 AM, Mar 16, 2013
The government will get around Rs 3,639 crore from the 2G spectrum auction for CDMA services, which ended on Monday with Russian conglomerate Sistema's Indian unit SSTL being the only bidder. ...
01:40 PM, Mar 11, 2013
The government has received bids worth Rs 3,639 crore from lone bidder Sistema Shyam Teleservices (SSTL) till the second round of the 2G spectrum auction for CDMA services. Sources said bids were received for three blocks in each of eight circles, including Delhi. There was no bid for Mumbai, they added. ...
12:53 PM, Mar 11, 2013
Lone bidder Sistema Shyam Teleservices (SSTL) on Monday bid for eight circles in the 2G spectrum auction for CDMA services. The second round of auction is underway and it is expected that it will end by the third round, which could be the shortest online sale of radiowaves in terms of time consumed. ...
11:00 AM, Mar 11, 2013
Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday expressed confidence that the present uncertainty in the telecom sector will be resolved and spectrum will be auctioned. "For the present there is lot of uncertainty about auction but I am sure that this uncertainty will be resolved and spectrum will be auctioned. If the spectrum is auctioned we should get the money," Chidambaram said. ...
01:24 AM, Mar 01, 2013
Vodafone, which has not applied for taking part in spectrum auction in March, on Tuesday said the reserve price set is too high and the company cannot afford to pay in India where there is uncertainty about airwaves and revenues are low. ...
04:06 AM, Feb 27, 2013
Former telecom minister and a prime accused in the 2G spectrum scam case, A Raja will not be deposing in front of the Joint Parliamentary Committtee (JPC), sources said on Tuesday. ...
12:12 PM, Feb 26, 2013
Sistema emerged as the only operator bidding in an auction of airwaves in India, a sign that the government may have to drop the reserve price of remaining airwaves to attract interest, analysts said. ...
12:21 AM, Feb 26, 2013
The second round of 2G spectrum sale is virtually set to be a flop show as there is no applicant for GSM band of radiowaves while Sistema Shyam is the only firm for CDMA band at close of deadline on Monday for applying to take part in the auction. While no application was received for the GSM band spectrum at the close of deadline, Russian Sistema's Indian joint venture, Sistema...
07:29 PM, Feb 25, 2013
The Centre on Friday informed the Delhi High Court that the renewal of licences for 900 MHz spectrum of three leading mobile service operators would be decided within two weeks. "The government will decide their applications (for renewal of licences) within two weeks as per the law," Additional Solicitor General (ASG) AS Chandhiok told a bench of Justice Rajiv Shakdher. ...
06:15 PM, Feb 22, 2013
