Sotheby's postpones Buddha jewelry auction indefinitely

With an estimated value of around 10 million euros, the auction of a set of jewels over two thousand years old and associated with Buddha was expected to be a high point for Sotheby's Hong Kong branch.

But controversy erupted when, on the eve of the session, the voices of indignation against the sale of the sacred artefacts were joined by a letter from the Indian Minister of Culture, which stressed “the illegality of the auction” and recalled that the artefacts are “classified as ‘AA’ antiques under Indian law and their removal or sale is prohibited”. Faced with the threat of legal action, Sotheby's decided to postpone the auction, scheduled for the 7th. On the eve of the sale, an official at the London auction house commented that all due diligence had been carried out, “including in relation to authenticity and origin, legality and other considerations”, thus complying with the rules for the sale of works of art and antiques.

The jewels, known as the Piprahwa Gems, date back to the Azoccan Era of the Mauryan Empire, and have been dated to c. 240-200 BC. Their discovery in 1898 was considered one of the most sensational of the time. It was William Claxton Peppé, a British officer stationed in colonial India, who found them while excavating a stupa at Piprahwa (present-day Uttar Pradesh), south of Lumbini, the birthplace of the Buddha. Along with the 1,800 jewels, which included rubies, topazes, sapphires and gold leaf, were fragments of bone thought to have belonged to the spiritual master.