PUBLISHED BY TIMOTHY:
The odds of finding a treasure worth millions just lying around in
your attic and becoming multimillionaires overnight mostly existed in
movies and TV shows, until now.
According to a report on
metro.co.uk, a couple living in Berkshire recently came about artefacts
looted by their ancestor from Tipu Sultan's palace in 1799, when India
was under the British rule.
The
artefacts which include a number of Indian arms also have Tipu Sultan's
gun that he used in his last fight against the British.
The gun,
which has a pattern of tiger stripes as the freedom fighter was known as
the Tiger of Mysore, is said to have damage caused by a musket ball
that possibly leading to his death.
A
Flintlock Blunderbuss with tiger stripes, made in Seringapatam. Tipu
was preoccupied with tiger imagery. (File photo: metmuseum)
The
artefacts were taken by British army officer Major Thomas Hart of the
British East India Company after Tipu Sultan was defeated by the Duke of
Wellington in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War.
Since the army man
brought the items to Britain, they were passed down through generations
of his family until this family found the treasure in their attic.
As reported by Metro, the artefacts are expected to be sold for millions of pounds at the auction.
The
collection found in Berkshire has- a 21-shot repeating flintlock musket
gun used by Tipu Sultan in battle, his solid gold snack box with
220-year-old betel nuts inside, his ornate gold-encrusted sword, a
gold-encrusted sword bearing the mark of his father and previous ruler
of Mysore- Haider Ali Khan, a miniature painting of him, and several
more weapons. It also has Major Thomas Hart's solid gold seal ring.
Auctioneer
Anthony Cribb said it is impossible to put a price on the items but the
collection is definitely more important than the last one sold that was
put together over a period of 40 years and came from different places.
Cribb
said, "These weapons were picked up at the battlement by a military
officer who was there and have been in the same family for 220 years.
When I first saw the gun I nearly fainted. It's a once in a lifetime
find."
"The owners are just an ordinary family who live in a
Victorian semi-detached house. You could describe this find as a lottery
win for them."
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