Looted Indian sword fetches record ₤14m at Bonhams

An 18th-century Indian sword looted by British troops in 1799 fetched ₤14.1m (together with charges) at a Bonhams public sale in London on Tuesday (23 Might)—a value Bonhams stated is an public sale document for an Islamic and Indian object.

The one-metre-long sword, its ornate hilt inlaid with gold calligraphy, belonged to Tipu Sultan (1751-1799). Often known as the Tiger of Mysore, he was the Muslim ruler of a kingdom in southern India and waged a number of battles in opposition to the East India Firm.

Created by Mughul swordsmiths and often called the Bedchamber Sword, the weapon was taken from Tipu Sultan’s palace at Seringapatam by troops of the East India Firm who had defeated his military. Tipu Sultan was killed within the battle.

The sword was introduced as a trophy to Main Basic David Baird by the victorious British military “as a token of their excessive esteem of his braveness and conduct within the assault which he commanded and wherein Tipu Sultan was slain”, as an inscription added to the sword’s metal blade states. It remained in Baird’s household till 2003, when it was auctioned at Dix Noonan Webb (now Noonans) in London for ₤150,000.

“The sword has a unprecedented historical past, an astonishing provenance and unrivalled craftsmanship,” says Nima Sagharchi, Bonhams head of Islamic and Indian artwork. “It was no shock it was so hotly contested between two cellphone bidders and a bidder within the room.”

Bonham’s declined to provide any details about the profitable bidder.

In 2021, the UK authorities issued a short lived export ban on a tiger’s head finial from Tipu Sultan’s throne, looted after the identical defeat, describing it as “an necessary symbolic object in Anglo-Indian historical past within the final years of the 18th century”.

The transfer was criticised on the time by commentators who identified that the tiger’s head—just like the sword—entered Britain as conflict loot.