NRIs jointly buy Nehru, Gandhi letters in London auction

London, July 14: A series of letters written by Gandhi and Nehru and a piece of signed khadi cloth were sold by Sotheby`s for a total of 17,500 pounds, the London auction house said.The Gandhi items were bought jointly by two prominent Indian-origin industrialists - Ghulam Noon, founder of Noon Products and popularly known as Britain`s Curry King, and Nat Puri, founder of Purico Group.

The items, sold in four lots, comprised three signed letters by Gandhi; a signed khadi cloth that was said to have been worn by him; two signed postcards by Gandhi; and a series of 29 letters by Jawaharlal Nehru to freedom fighter Mridula Sarabhai. The Gandhi letters, written to Islamic scholar Maulana Abdul Bari, went for 4,750 pounds; his khadi cloth for 2,125 pounds; the postcards from Gandhi to poet Hamidullah Afsar for 1,875 pounds; and the Nehru letters for 8,750 pounds. The Nehru letters were bought by a British company trading in books and manuscripts. IANS