Mahatma Gandhi’s spectacles sold for $340,000 at auction in UK

A pair of Mahatma Gandhi's, gold-plated glasses left in a Bristol auction house's letterbox was sold for £260,000 ($340,000).

London: Believed to have been worn by Mahatma Gandhi, a pair of gold-plated glasses has sold in Britain for £260,000 pounds (about €288,000, $340,000).

After the sale, East Bristol Auctions wrote on Instagram "We found them just four weeks ago in our letterbox, left there by a gentleman whose uncle had been given them by Gandhi himself."

Mahatma Gandhi was recognised for giving out old or unwanted items to those in need or those who had helped him.

According to reports, the glasses are said to have been in the family of the unnamed elderly gentleman vendor in England,  who was told by his father that they were a gift to his uncle when he was working for Petroleum in South Africa between 1910 and 1930.

The sale price smashed the original estimate of around £15,000.

Earlier this month, auctioneer Andrew Stowe told Sky News that the vendor had told him: "If they're no good, just throw them away."

When suggested they might be worth £15,000, "I think he nearly fell off his chair."