April 2, 2015: Sports & Americana Auction
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/2/2015
This 3.5x4x5-inch House of Commons card is signed in black steel-tip fountain pen by Mahatma Gandhi. The card exhibits mild discoloration in a couple spots and a light crease to the right of his signature, but not affecting the signature. There is writing on the back of the card, reading "Mr. Gandhi's signature secured after he had addressed a meeting of Labor members in room 14 on Wednesday 16th Sept. 1931." The signature also includes a photocopied note from the Hotel Westminster and a photo of Gandhi. The signature is authenticated by JSA with a full LOA. Gandhi famously led Indians in challenging the British-imposed salt tax with the 400 km (250 mi) Dandi Salt March in 1930, and later in calling for the British to Quit India in 1942. He was imprisoned for many years, upon many occasions, in both South Africa and India. Gandhi attempted to practice nonviolence and truth in all situations, and advocated that others do the same. He lived modestly in a self-sufficient residential community and wore the traditional Indian dhoti and shawl, woven with yarn hand spun on a charkha. He ate simple vegetarian food, and also undertook long fasts as the means to both self-purification and social protest.he undertook several fasts unto death to promote religious harmony. The last of these, undertaken on 12 January 1948 at age 78, also had the indirect goal of pressuring India to pay out some cash assets owed to Pakistan. Some Indians thought Gandhi was too accommodating. Nathuram Godse, a Hindu nationalist, assassinated Gandhi on 30 January 1948 by firing three bullets into his chest at point-blank range.
Mahatma Gandhi Signed House of Commons Card (Dated Sept. 16, 1931) (JSA)
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