London, April 7
Leading auction house Sotheby’s today announced that an armour plate, which is claimed to be of 10th Sikh Guru Gobind Singh, had been withdrawn from the sale scheduled for April 9.
“The Sikh armour of the 18th century has been withdrawn at the consignor’s instruction,” Simon Warren, a spokesman for Sotheby’s, told PTI.
“The Sotheby’s has been asked by the consignor to arrange the acquisition of the lot by a suitable member of the Sikh community,” he said. Last week, India’s highest Sikh religious body, SGPC, had urged the Queen to use her good offices to stop the auction. Sotheby’s had earlier clarified that the armour plate was not a relic of the Sikh Guru.
The armour plate was included in the auction of Arts of the Islamic World to be auctioned on April 9 here. Its estimated auction price is between 10,000 and 12,000 pounds.
The armour plate, which is of a rectangular slightly convex form, is decorated with gold overlay with a central panel of calligraphy with six horizontal inscription bands bordered by scrolling split-palmette and floral bands. It carries the opening verse of “Akal Ustat” as found on the Guru’s personal “Raikot” sword.
— PTI
