A set of postage stamps featuring Indian freedom icon Mahatma Gandhi was sold recently for a whopping amount of £500,000, breaking all previous records for Indian postage. The 10-rupee Gandhi stamps were sold in a set of four in auction on April 19 by Jersey-based private collector-investor Stanley Gibbons in Australia.
Depicting Gandhi against a purple-brown backdrop, along with the dates of his birth and death, the stamps were commissioned shortly after India got independence in 1947, to commemorate the legend. However, before they could be released, Gandhi was assassinated, after which, the stamps were issued as a memorial on the first anniversary of independence. Only 100 of them, including four of the recently sold, had the word SERVICE printed over them, and given to the Governor General for official use.
Head writer at Paul Fraser Collectibles, Daniel Wade cited the increasingly wealthy Indian diaspora in the UK and elsewhere as the main reason behind the growing value of such items. “2011 figures from Artprice found that contemporary Indian artists secured 97 per cent of their sales in the US and UK. But we are slowly seeing increasing numbers of items repatriated to India-based collectors. The reason being that wealth is growing among India's middle and upper classes. This is a trend set to continue.”
“The market for high-quality Indian rarities has been strong for several years and is supported by the on-going desire for the wealthy, Indian diaspora and savvy international clients to own these historic assets,” said Keith Heddle, managing director of investments at Stanley Gibbons.
A year prior, a collection of soil and grass stained with Gandhi’s blood during his assassination sold for £10,000. The entire lot of Gandhi artefacts, which also included a pair of glasses worn by the father of the nation, fetched over £100,000. Paul Fraser Collectibles currently has a set of cutlery used by Gandhi during his incarceration at Aga Khan Palace up for sale, which is expected to sell for £75,000. Cricket memorabilia has also increased in value due to the growing number of Indian collectors. The bat that Indian captain MS Dhoni used to hit the winning runs of the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup finals sold for £100,000 at an auction in London that same year, breaking the previous record for a cricket bat.
“A recent McKinsey Global Institute study suggests India’s middle class will expand from five per cent of the country’s population to 40 per cent by 2027,” Wade said. “That is a lot more people than before with the means to buy pieces of Indian heritage.”
