Mahatma Gandhi’s Letters and Rare Copy of Indian Constitution sold Big at Sotheby's

Anonymous bidder bought two letters of Mahatma Gandhi as well as rare copy of Indian constitution at Sotheby's sale in London on 12 December 2012. The bidder bought letter which was written by Gandhi in 1922 to eldest brother of Rabindranath Tagore, Dwijendranath at 7 times the value of its pre-sale estimate. The rare copy of Indian constitution was sold at around 8 times the offer price to private collector.

The constitution copy was bought by the private collector, while the two letters which were associated to Gandhi were bought by an anonymous buyer.

The letter which was written by Mahatma Gandhi to Dwijendranath from the Sabarmati jail brought back 49250 pounds (around 43 lakh Rupees) at Sotheby's sale of Children’s Books, History, English Literature as well as Illustrations. There was an estimate of 5000-7000 pounds.

In the letter, Mahatma Gandhi wrote that the calm and peace in India was important for his own strength. He had asked Dwijendranath to send this supporting message to Young-India journal in two pages letter which was written in pencil.
There was another letter written by Gandhi to unknown friend in 1922 in which he had offered condolences after hearing about the death of his friend’s mother. This letter was sold for 5625 pounds. The estimated amount of this letter was 3000-4000 pounds.

It is important to note that in November 2012, the Gandhian author Giriraj Kishore had gone to UPA chairperson, Sonia Gandhi in order to put a halt to the auction of these two letters written by Gandhi.

On the other hand, the first limited edition of constitution on the stiff Whatman paper having an estimate amount of 4000-5000 pounds was sold for 39650 pounds. This copy of constitution is signed by the President Rajendra Prasad in English as well as Devnagari, along with Pandit Jawarharlal Nehru on authentification page.