A British family is on its way to become the fastest millionaires after they found a bounty of Indian treasure in their attic. The artefacts found are believed to be taken by a British army officer from the palace of Tipu Sultan, in the wake of the Indian freedom fighter's fight to the Duke of Wellington in 1799. Also found is a cache of Indian arms that reportedly include the very gun used by the 'Tiger of Mysore' in his last stand against the Queen's Army.
The weapons were brought back to Britain by Major Thomas Hart of the British East India Company, following the Fourth Anglo-Mysore war. They were passed down through his family, and now belong to a couple who kept them wrapped in newspaper in a dusty attic of their semi-detached home in Berkshire. The items will probably fetch them millions of pounds at auction. Auctioneer Anthony Cribb said the collection is said to be more significant. “It is impossible to put a price on these items but I would say this collection is more important than the previous one that sold. That one was put together over 40 years and came from lots of different places. But these weapons were picked up at the battlement by a military officer who was there and have been in the same family for 220 years. When I first saw the gun I nearly fainted. It is a once in a lifetime find.”
He added, “The owners are just an ordinary family who live in a Victorian semi-detached house. You could describe this find as like a lottery win for them.” Tipu's gun has a tiger stripe pattern unique to his and there is also damage caused by a musket ball that is believed to have killed him. They also found a gold-encrusted firangi sword that bears the mark of Haider Ali Khan, previous ruler of Mysore, and Tipu's father. The British army had waged a war against Sultan after a spy intercepted a letter from French dictator Napolean Bonaparte proposing an alliance against them. Then Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley led his army into Tipu's stronghold of Seringapatam, breached the walls of its fortress as the Indian ruler fired long-arm muskets at them handed by his servants.
He died when a musket ball deflected off his gun and struck him above the right eye. After their victory, British soldiers pillaged the city, Tipu's palace, treasury and armoury.
