Tipu’s sword sells for Rs 3.4 crore at a UK auction house | India News – Times of India

LONDON: The ‘sword with the shining blade’, believed to have been part of Tipu Sultan’s personal arsenal and whose provenance dates back to the Battle of Seringapatamsold on Bonhams Auction House for ₹317,900 (Rs 3.4 crore) on Tuesday.
The sword has an unbroken lineage dating back to the 1799 battle in which Tipu Sultan met his end: it has been in the hands of the British family whose ancestor was given the sword for his service in the battle.
The “steel tulwar” has the distinctive “bubri (tiger stripe)” decoration of the Tiger of Mysore adorning the handle and the Arabic letter “ha” inlaid in gold on the blade, a reference to Tipu’s father, Hyder Ali.
The sword was presented to Captain James Andrew Dick in recognition of his service at Seringapatam and remained in the Dick family until June 2024. Dick served as a lieutenant at Seringapatam in the 75th Highland Regiment of Foot. The regiment was part of the storming party during the battle, aiming to breach the walls using ladders. Lt. Dick was therefore probably one of the first of the British forces to enter the city, and it was his regiment that helped in the search for Tipu’s body after the battle.
A silver hilt Seringapatam Medal belonging to Peter Cherry, who was present at the siege in the capacity of paymaster, with an image of a “British lion vanquishing the tiger”, sold for £23,040 (Rs 24 lakh).
A report on the secret alliance between Tipu Sultan and the nawabs of the Carnatic, signed by N. B. Edmonstone, Persian translator for the Government of Bengal, dated April 6, 1800, sold for £35,840 (Rs 38.6 lakh).
The Edmonstone Document is a manuscript copy of the report to the Government of Bengal on the cache of correspondence between Tipu Sultan and his ministers, which was found at Seringapatam after the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War and is believed to reveal a secret alliance between Tipu Sultan and his ministers. two successive nawabs of the Carnatic, Muhammad Ali Khan Wallajah and Umdat al-Umara, who were fictionally allied with the British. The findings were used to force Umdat al-Umara’s successor, Azim ud-Daul, to sign the treaty. Carnatic Treatyone of the treaties with which the British Empire acquired his rule over the Indian subcontinent.