Express News Service
NEW DELHI: Religious souvenirs including idols, minuscule model of trains, and boxing gloves of Olympian boxer Lovlina Borgohain were star attractions on the last day of the e-auction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s gifts and mementos, which ended on Thursday.
The sculpture of Sardar Patel, Wooden Ganesha, Pune Metro Line with house mounted sculpture of Chattrapati Shivaji, ‘Victory flame’, framed presiding deity of Shri Padmanabhaswamy Temple, Silver chariot with five horses, and minuscule model of a train representing Mumbai Metropolitan received maximum numbers of bids.
With 140 quotes, Sardar Patel’s statue was the most sought after article.
While for the idol of Lord Ganesha, 117 people proposed bids, Pune metro line and ‘victory flame’ invited 104 and 98 bids respectively.
More than 8,600 bids were made for 1,348 mementos, which were placed under the hammer.
“Items like decorative mace, replica of Statue of Unity, a Charkha and a bell received highest bids in terms of bid value as compared to the base price,” said an official of the union ministry of culture, the organizer of the auction.
Maximum bids were received for low-priced articles.
Sport gears used by the winners of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games were also up for auction.
The highest bid for the javelin autographed by Olympic gold medalist Neeraj Chopra, one of the highest valued items was of Rs 1.5 crore. The base price of the javelin, Chopra used in final rounds, was kept at Rs one crore.
The fence, used by CA Bhavani Dev at the Olympics 2020, which was another major attraction, received the highest bid of Rs 1.25 crore.
The starting price was Rs 60 lakh.
The highest quoted price for a framed ‘Angavastra’, white plain stole with signatures and wishes from the players who won at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 was Rs one crore while its base price was Rs 90 lakh.
Majority of the sports gear or equipment received bids in single digit.
“Total amount collected through the process will be announced later as the auction was allowed for some articles till late evening on Thursday. It is a time consuming process as about 1,348 articles were part of the auction,” said an official.
The memorabilia up for sale were presented to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The auction was launched on September 17.
The amount collected through the auctioning will be used for the Namami Gange Mission aimed at conserving and rejuvenating Ganga River.