SULTANS OF BLING
Couple to become millionaires from sale of Indian relics kept in the attic
A COUPLE are set to be overnight millionaires after being told relics wrapped in newspaper in their attic were an Indian sultan’s treasures.
The artefacts were taken from the palace of Tipu Sultan, an Indian ruler, after his defeat by forces led by the Duke of Wellington in 1799.
The cache includes the very gun Tipu, the Tiger of Mysore, used in his last stand against the British. It has a tiger stripe pattern unique to Tipu and there is also damage caused by the musket ball that killed him.
The gun, four swords, a shield, a betel nut box and gold seal ring were brought to Britain by
Major Thomas Hart after the Fourth Anglo-Mysore war.
They were passed down through his family and now belong to a couple who kept them in the attic of their semidetached home in Berkshire, not realising they could be worth millions.
In 2016, a sale of other items that ANTHONY CRIBB AUCTIONEER belonged to Tipu fetched £6million. Auctioneer Anthony Cribb, who is selling the latest collection, said: “It is impossible to put a price on these items but I would say this collection is more important than the previous one. “When I first saw the gun I nearly fainted. It is a once-in-a-lifetime find. “The owners are an ordinary family who live in a Victorian semi-detached house. You could describe this find as like a lottery win for them.” The British waged war against Tipu Sultan after a spy intercepted a letter from French dictator Napoleon proposing an alliance with him against the British.
After the victory, British soldiers pillaged the city and Tipu’s palace, treasury and armoury, taking the wealthy sultan’s bejewelled possessions and impressive arms. The collection will be sold at auction at the Milton House Hotel, near Abingdon, Oxfordshire, on March 26. RULER Tipu Sultan
Golden box had 220-year-old betel nuts still inside
When I first saw the gun I nearly fainted. It’s a once-in-alifetime find
Mr Cribb with rare gun