Gandhi's eyeglasses to be auctioned in New York City

The sale of Gandhi's belongings is specially significant because the ascetic leader of India's independence movement didn't have many possessions, Julien Scharer of Antiquorum Auctioneers in New York said Thursday.

His trademark round eyeglasses, a pair of worn leather sandals, an inexpensive pocket watch and a simple brass bowl and plate will be sold as a single lot on March 5, with an estimated low bid ranging from $20,000 to $30,000.

Inquiries from prospective buyers have been pouring in from around the globe, Scharer said.

They include people "who are interested in important personalities and in Gandhi ... and people who collect historic watches," he said.

The items have been consigned by a private American collector who obtained them from the descendants of the Gandhi family, Scharer said.

The auction house said Gandhi gave the eyeglasses and its leather case to an army colonel who had asked him for inspiration, telling him they were the "eyes" that had given him the vision to free India.

The glasses are in excellent condition, Scharer said.

The time piece is a 1910 Zenith sterling silver, keyless pocket watch with an alarm that Gandhi gave to his grandniece, Abha Gandhi.

The watch was of great importance to Gandhi because he was a man who greatly valued punctuality.

"It was an object he cherished," Scharer said. In the 1940s, Gandhi was frequently seen with a pocket watch attached to his loincloth.

Gandhi also gave the bowl and plate to his grandniece, who worked as his assistant for six years. Gandhi, who advocated nonviolent civil disobedience in response to oppression, died in her arms in 1948 after being shot.

The open-heel sandals, described by Scharer as having "some mileage to them," were given by Gandhi to a British military officer who photographed him in the Yemen port city of Aden, where Gandhi had stopped en route to England.