PM Mementos e-auction: Neeraj Chopra’s javelin gets highest bid

New Delhi, Oct 07: With just a day left for the e-auction of the prime minister''s mementos to end, historical items and religious artefacts seem to have drawn more interest, while sports gears of Olympians have received the highest bids said a PTI report.

Since the auction opened on September 17, all eyes were on the sporting gear of Olympians and Paralympians. While the javelin used by Neeraj Chopra, which brought him the gold medal, received the highest bid of Rs 10 crore on the opening day, it was later cancelled on the suspicion that it could be a fake bid.

Weeks later, a javelin used by a Paralympic gold medallist remains at the top with a bid of Rs 1,00,50,000. However, till now it has received only two bids, according to the latest bid details on the PM''s memento''s site https://pmmementos.gov.in/.

In comparison, a metal mace whose base price was Rs 2,500 has received 54 bids, with the highest at Rs 5 lakh.

The javelin used by Paralympic gold medallist Sumit Antil, with a base price of Rs 1 crore, received a bid of Rs 1,00,05,000 from one bidder, while a wooden model of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya saw 24 bids come in. The mandir''s base value was Rs 2,50,000.

A badminton racquet autographed by Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games gold medallist Krishna Nagar received a highest bid of Rs 80.15 lakh but there were only three bidders who showed interest in it. On the other hand, a small metallic figurine showing Lord Rama, Hanuman, Laxman and Goddess Sita, titled Bhagwan Ram Parivar, received 44 bids, with the highest being Rs 1.35 lakh. Its base price was only Rs 10,000.

Apart from religious items, a large-scale three-dimensional replica model of a DRDO tank placed inside a glass box has received 23 bids, with the highest being Rs 5 lakh. Its base price was Rs 75,000.

Another item, a memento of the Pune metro line with a sculpture of Chattrapati Shivajji on a horse and the metro line within the cityscape, received 24 bids, with the highest being Rs 43,000, while its base price was only Rs 3,000.

So far, of the 1,348 mementos around 1,083 items have received bids.

At the last such auction in September 2019, as many as 2,770 objects went under the hammer. These included paintings, sculptures, shawls, jackets and traditional musical instruments. The proceeds were donated to the Namami Gange Mission.

After the auction ends on October 7, the ministry will notify the highest bidders through email.