E-auction of PM’s gifts: Neeraj Chopra’s javelin gets top price, Sardar Patel sculpture earns max bids

PTI, Oct 8, 2021, 10:50 AM IST

At the end of the e-auction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mementos on Thursday, the maximum number of bids were received for the sculpture of Sardar Patel (140), while the highest bid value was for Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra’s javelin (Rs 1.5 crore), the culture ministry said.

Among the items that received the most bids was a wooden Ganesha with 117 bids, a memento of the Pune metro line which got 104 bids and a memento of Victory flame which received 98 bids.

Following close on the heels of Chopra’s gold-winning javelin, which received the highest bid in terms of value, were the autographed fence of Bhavani Devi (Rs 1.25 cr), Sumit Antil’s javelin (Rs 1.002 cr), Angavastra autographed by the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic contingent (Rs 1 cr) and Lovlina Borgohain’s boxing gloves (Rs 91 lakh).

The highlight items of this round of e-auctions included the sports memorabilia of the medal-winning Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games; models of Ayodhya Ram mandir; Varanasi’s Rudraksh auditorium and many other precious and interesting collectibles.

In the e-auction, 1,348 mementos were put up and around 8600 bids were received.

This third round of e-auction of the gifts and mementos presented to Modi was held from September 17 to October 7. The proceeds of the e-auction will go to the Namami Gange Mission.

At the last such auction, in September 2019, as many as 2,770 objects went under the hammer. These included paintings, sculptures, shawls, jackets and traditional musical instruments. The proceeds were also donated to the Namami Gange Mission.