A collection of rare artefacts discovered by a couple after years of lying wrapped up in their attic in the English county of Berkshire and evaluated as items from Tipu Sultan’s armoury was auctioned for around 107,000 pounds.
The highlight lot, a silver-mounted 20-bore flintlock gunand bayonet from the personal armoury of the last ruler of Mysore, provedhugely popular as it attracted 14 bids before going under the hammer for 60,000pounds.
“Unlike other Tipu Sultan guns this one exhibits clearsigns of having been badly damaged in its past…rather than being takendirectly from the rack after the fall of Seringapatam it appears to have beencollected from the battlefield,” the lot description notes.
The other highlight lot, a gold-encrusted sword and suspensionbelt ensemble believed to be one of Tipu Sultan’s personal swords, attracted asmany as 58 bids before being sold to the winning bidder for 18,500 pounds.
The two centrepieces formed part of a collection of eightitems brought back by Major Thomas Hart of the East India Company after theTiger of Mysore’s defeat at Seringapatam in 1799.
Alongside the arms, an intricately designed Betel Nut Casket(17,500 pounds) and a Gold East India Company Seal ring (2,800 pounds)belonging to Major Hart, believed to have passed down generations beforelanding in the hands of the current owners, were among the other big sellers ofTuesday’s sale.
Berkshire-based Antony Cribb Ltd auctioneers, who specialisein arms and armoury related sales, had announced the auction following the”exciting discovery” earlier this year and said that majority of thebuyer interest had come from Indians based in India.
The Indian High Commission in London was made aware of theartefacts by the India Pride Project, a worldwide volunteer network set up totrack “India’s stolen heritage”, and attempted to convince theauction house to consider voluntarily restoring the items to India.
The India Pride Project, which was instrumental in therestitution of a 12th century Buddha statue stolen from Nalanda in Bihar lastyear via the Indian High Commission in London, said it would continue lobbyingfor such artefacts to find their way back to India.
“You haven’t really decolonised a nation, unless you’vegiven back what’s theirs,” said Anuraag Saxena, founder of the India PrideProject.
However, the auction house insisted that no laws were beingbroken and also confirmed that the beneficiary family had decided to make asizeable donation to a school in India from the money generated from theauction.
“The family is not motivated by money and sincerelyhope these items find their way back to India, maybe to a museum, for futuregenerations to have access to it,” said Antony Cribb of the auction house.
The latest cache of Tipu Sultan related artefacts, whichincluded three further swords from the ruler’s armoury and a lacquered leathershield, was described as special because of its rare discovery under one roofafter nearly 220 years.
The items bore the trademark tiger and tiger stripes associatedwith the Tiger of Mysore as proof of their provenance. The lots came to lightin January this year when the couple who made the discovery of this innocuousfamily heirloom contacted Antony Cribb Ltd about a sword they had in theirattic.
After an evaluation, a gold “Haider” symbol foundon the sword confirmed that the sword belonged Haider Ali Khan Tipu Sultan’sfather. The three other swords bearing similar gold markings were found soonafter, along with the other items.