Gandhi’s glasses discovered in letterbox of auction house in Bristol

Spectacles were reportedly given to the vendor’s uncle by Gandhi during a visit to South Africa

A pair of glasses that belonged to Mahatma Gandhi were recently discovered in the letterbox of a Bristol auction house and are expected to sell for tens of thousands of pounds.

On Friday 21 August, the spectacles owned by the civil rights activist are due to be auctioned by East Bristol Auctions.

On the website for the auction house, it states that the glasses are estimated to be sold for around £10,000 to £15,000, although the current bid is currently set at £50,000.

However, it took several days for the auction house to realise it had happened upon such an extraordinary lot.

Speaking to Sky News, Andrew Stowe, an auctioneer for East Bristol Auctions, explained that a man left the glasses in their letterbox on Friday 31 July.

As the auction house is not open at weekends, it wasn’t until Monday 3 August that a member of staff opened the envelope in which the “iconic” spectacles had been placed.

The envelope was reportedly hanging halfway out of the letterbox before it was retrieved.

“A colleague of mine picked them up, ripped open the envelope and found a brief note inside saying, ‘These glasses belonged to Gandhi, give me a call,” Mr Stowe said.

“I read the note, carried on with the morning duties, and then around lunchtime I thought, ‘Well let’s give this gentleman a call, let’s see what the story is’.”

After conducting some research, the auctioneers realised that the glasses “are a very important historical find”.

(Photo by Elliott Fry/Getty Images) (Photo by Elliott & Fry/Getty Images)

According to Mr Stowe, when he called the vendor back, the man said: “If they’re no good, just throw them away.”

“I told him I thought they were worth £15,000, and I think he nearly fell off his chair,” the auctioneer said.

On the listing for the glasses on the East Bristol Auctions website, it says that the spectacles were given to the vendor’s uncle by Gandhi during a visit to South Africa between 1920 to 1930.

“The uncle [was] working for British Petroleum at the time and was stationed in South Africa, and it can be presume that these were gifted by way of thanks from Gandhi for some good deed,” it states.

The auction house says that the glasses have been made “with sprung gold plated arms and prescription lenses” and are “jointed by a gold plated nose bar”.

“The spectacles formed an important and somewhat iconic part of Gandhi’s overall appearance,” it states.

“It was known that he would often give away his old or unwanted pairs to those in need or those who had helped him. A rare and important pair of spectacles.”