Another heritage chair to go under the hammer in UK

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 15

This may sound unbelievable for many but an armchair of the Punjab and the Haryana High Court, designed by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret 50 years ago, has been put on the auction by one of the auction houses of the UK, Bonhams, for Rs 9,80,000. The auction will start from October 25, 2017.

Bonhams, an reputed auction house was founded in London in 1793, hold over 400 specialist sales a year in 60 various categories at their flagship salerooms in London, New York, Los Angeles, and Hong Kong.

This is the second time that the arm chair is being put on the auction for such a high price. Recently, another auction house of the USA, namely WRIGHT, has also put an armchair from the Punjab and the Haryana High Court for auction in Rs 9 lakh. Besides that another auction for the heritage item is being held in London on October 17 in which four lots of furniture, sourced from Chandigarh, are being auctioned. The items which are being auctioned include ‘committee’ chairs, designed for the high court and administrative buildings, illuminated reading table, designed for the Assembly and the university library in Chandigarh, public bench designed for the high court, and a pair of ‘advocate and press’ chair of the high court. The estimated amount for all items are over Rs 1 crore. Ajay Jagga, an advocate, has written a letter to the Director, CBI, and the Director-General DRI, to start the investigation in the sale.

He said steps should be taken to investigate the matter and also try to stop the auction, through diplomatic channels.