London: A pair of gold-rimmed spectacles believed to be once worn by Mahatma Gandhi was sold in an auction for £260,000 (approximately $340,327 or over Rs 2.5 crore) in the UK on Friday, four weeks after they were first discovered sticking out of a letter box outside the auction house, BBC reported.

“We found them just four weeks ago in our letterbox, left there by a gentleman whose uncle had been given them by Gandhi himself,” East Bristol Auctions wrote on Instagram after the sale late Friday. The iconic spectacles were sold to an American collector within six minutes of bidding at an auction in Bristol.

Gandhiji was known for giving out old or unwanted pairs to those in need or those who had helped him. The non-violent protester gave the glasses to the vendor’s uncle while he was working for British Petroleum in South Africa during the 1920s or 30s, said the auction house. The sale price smashed the original estimate of around 15,000 pounds.