The family that found the belongings in their house’s attic realized that their ancestor, Major Thomas Hart who fought in Fourth Anglo-Mysore war in the year 1798-99 had brought a few of the belongings of the Sultan as artifacts. He did so after the defeat of Tiger of Mysore at Seringapatam in the year 1799. The things found in the attic consisted of three items, Tipu Sultan’s tiger-striped gun, his father Haider Ali Khan’s gold-encrusted sword, and a gold betel nut casket with 3 nuts still inside it. The gun is believed to have been used by Tipu Sultan himself during his last battle.
The aforementioned artifacts will be auctioned later this month. And they could fetch millions to the family who found them in their attic.
The auctioneer roped in believes it is a very exciting discovery. He also stated that the family is not particularly thrilled just because the deal involves them landing a lot of money, they actually want the item to reach back to their place, maybe India and their heritage stays preserved.
The items are supposed to be separated into 8 individual pieces and sold separately.
Back in the month of January, these artifacts came into light when the concerned family contacted the auctioneer about the sword they found in their attic. In the inspection, a ‘Haider’ mark was found on the sword that placed its origin with Haider Ali Khan. Later 3 more swords with the same mark were found. Also, a bayonet and a gun were found.
It is being reported that the gun holds most of the value since not only it bears a symbol placing its origin in the Tipu Sultan’s Armory, it is also battle-worn, and that makes it a lot more valuable. Those marks are believed to have taken during the Anglo-Mysore Battle.
Other items along with a Gold East India Company Seal ring will also go on auction. The seal ring belonged to Major Thomas Hart
In the year 2014, a similar auction of a solid ring made out of gold had fetched 145,000 pounds at an auction in London. The ring belonged to a ruler of Mysore from the 18th century. And a few of other items from the same time period had fetched the owner around 6 million pounds in 2016.