London, UK (August 22, 2013): As per media reports some rare documents of history related to the Sikhs were recently auctioned in the UK. As per information a 204 years old copy of the ‘Treaty of Amritsar’ was sold on August 21, 2013 for over four times its estimate at an auction of rare historical documents.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh
According to a news reported by the Indian Express (IE): [t]he treaty, struck between Maharaja Ranjit Singh — the founder of the Sikh Empire — and Charles T Metcalfe of the British East India Company in 1809, was bought by an anonymous bidder for £ 3,400.
“The base price set for the historic document was £600 to £800 (Rs 54,000-74,000), reads a news published at Amrit Bani TV’s (ABT) website. As per ABT news: “We are honoured to be selling this rare document. The Amritsar treaty was very important in the foundation of the great empire Maharaja Ranjit Singh had built,” said Richard Westwood-Brookes from Mullock’s auction house.
The East India Company’s need for a defensive treaty against the French resulted in the pact, which chalked out the frontier of land controlled by Maharaja Ranjit Singh along the Sutlej river. The treaty was presented to the British Parliament in 1818 and went on to define Indo-Sikh relations for a generation.
As per information a number of other historical documents and photographs related to Punjab went under the hammer on August 21, 2013. They included a stamp with the image of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and an early watercolour of a Sikh Guru which fetched £440.
Other key items up for auction included a large collection of rare and early Sikh books in English and Punjabi, mostly out of print and some dating back to the early 19th century, which raised hundreds for the auctioneers.