Mysore/Mysuru: Member of erstwhile Mysore royal family Pramoda Devi Wadiyar has taken objection to what she has clarified as ‘misattribution’ of ‘Lot No. 32’ in the ‘Opulent Collectibles’ online auction put up by AstaGuru Auction House. 

AstaGuru is organising an online auction on Jan. 27 and 28 and the items up for auction includes an F&C Osler floor candelabrum with a minaret dome that has the imprint of Mysore Palace. 

In a letter to CEO of AstaGuru Auction House Tushar Sethi, Pramoda Devi Wadiyar has said, “I must protest in the strongest possible terms the irresponsible attitude you have exhibited in the completely false attribution of the chandelier, Lot No. 32 in your Collectibles Sale of January 27 and 28th as coming from Mysore Palace. A simple phone call to either Bangalore Palace or Mysore Palace would have clarified the issue. You neglected to take this obvious avenue.”

Pramoda Devi  further in her letter said that this auction had caused intense embarrassment to her, her family and friends, many of whom have contacted her in disbelief. 

Added to this, an article based on this false claim has been published in certain newspapers. “We now also have to contact these news dailies and correct the misconception, which, by now must have been seen by countless readers of the newspapers,” the letter stated.  

“I was told that you have corrected the misattribution in your online catalogue after the telephone conversations you and Rakshanda Hussain have had yesterday with Michael Ludgrove. This is too little and too late,” she has stated in the letter.