Deal offered for Gandhi's belongings

A rare collection of personal items which belonged to the Indian independence leader Mohandas K. Gandhi go under the auction hammer in New York later this week.

The auction has sparked debate in India about the future ownership of the items, which include Gandhi's distinctive round wire-rimmed spectacles.

Along with the glasses, there are a pair of worn leather sandals, a pocket watch, and a simple brass bowl and plate.

The auction house Antiquorum will be selling the items on Thursday, and said an estimate of the final selling price is difficult to calculate since there is some controversy surrounding the sale.

"I think they are very important, they are items that show up very rarely at auction. First of all, because of course in this case for Mahatma Gandhi's items, he didn't have very many possessions, so the few that actually show up at auction are exceptional," said Julien Scherer, Director of the Watch Department at Antiquorum Auctioneers.

The items are being put up for sale by Los Angeles documentary producer James Otis. Otis said that he hoped selling the items would popularise Gandhi's creed of passive resistance.

"I've had them many years in my own private hands and I really want them to get out to the world, and I'm hoping that by auctioning them it will make Gandhi relevant in today's world, and help people like Obama, who has got a picture of Gandhi in his office, help him remember that Gandhi taught us to resolve international conflicts with non-violence."

Gandhi's great-grandson said on Monday that he had launched a fundraising campaign to buy the items and bring them back to India.

Tushar Gandhi said selling the belongings of his great-grandfather, who espoused a life of poverty and had very few possessions, was "immoral" because "they belong to India and the people of India."

He said he was trying to raise at least 300,000 US dollars to be able to have a serious chance of buying the items.

Tushar Gandhi said he could have requested help from the Indian government but instead wanted to create a "people's initiative" to bring the collection back to India.

Inquiries from prospective buyers have been pouring in from around the globe, Julian Scherer of Antiquorum said. "We have, you know, high hopes that it either is going to be an institution, a museum, or hopefully even a private wealthy Indian person who might decide to actually give it back to his country or to be on view for most of the public people to be able to actually view it, which is where they really ultimately belong," he said.

Owner James Otis said he hoped that some benefit from the sale would be felt by the people of India.

"We hope if these items do go for sale, and the Indian government doesn't come up with an offer prior to the auction, that the items will go for a lot, and that many people will benefit. We have gone to the Indian government and made an offer to them: if they were to increase their help of the poorest of Indians, increase their GDP from one percent to five percent, I would gladly donate these items to them, and they would be happy and a cause that Gandhi believed in greatly, the poorest of those in India, would be benefited."

The auction house said Gandhi is believed to have given the eyeglasses and their leather case to an army colonel who had asked him for inspiration, telling him they were the "eyes" that had given him the vision to free India.

The timepiece is a 1910 Zenith sterling silver pocket watch with an alarm that Gandhi gave to his grandniece, Abha Gandhi.

Gandhi also gave the bowl and plate to his grandniece, who worked as his assistant for six years.

Gandhi, who advocated nonviolent civil disobedience to resist British rule in India, died in her arms in 1948 after being shot by a Hindu radical.

The sandals were apparently given to a British military officer who photographed the leader in the Yemen port city of Aden, where Gandhi had stopped en route to England.

Otis said he acquired them from family members and a variety of auctions.

Otis has also added two more items of Gandhi to`the five already being auctioned. These include his blood report from the then Irwin hospital in Delhi and a signed telegram he sent to students who were undertaking a non violent struggle.

In 2007, a letter written by Gandhi was withdrawn from a London auction to allow the Indian government to acquire it.