Gandhi’s glasses were left in the mailbox of the Bristol auctioneer

A few of Mahatma Gandhi’s glasses are on sale after they were thrown out of an auction house halfway through a weekend.

Staff at East Bristol Auctions found the glasses in a plain envelope on a Monday morning.

Auctioneer Andrew Stowe said the glasses, expected to fetch more than £ 15,000, were the most important find in the company’s history.

He said the owner “almost had a heart attack” when asked about its value.

“One day they jumped in our mailbox on a Friday night and they stayed there until Monday – literally hanging out,” Mr Stowe said.

“One of my co-workers approached me and said there was a remark that they were wearing Gandhi’s glasses.

“I thought ‘That’s an interesting one’ and got on with my day.”

But when he investigated, Mr Stowe said he almost “fell off his chair” to discover that the gold-plated, circular spectacles were worn by the Indian civil rights leader.

“I called the man back and I think he almost had a heart attack,” Mr Stowe said.

Mr. Stowe said the owner told him that the glasses had been passed down from generation to generation in the owner’s family after a family member met Gandhi on a visit to South Africa in the 1920s.

“We looked at the dates and it all agrees, even the date Gandhi started wearing glasses,” he said.

“They are probably one of the first glasses he wore because they are a very weak prescription.

“He was known for giving away his possessions.”

Mr. Stowe said there was a lot of interest in the glasses, especially from India, but that it was fortunate that they reached him intact.

“They were just sitting in a plain white envelope,” he said.

“They could have been stolen or dropped out quite easily if just stuck in the bin.

“This is probably the most important finding we as a company have ever had.”

The glasses will go under the hammer as part of an online-only auction on August 21st.