London - An ornamental dagger that once belonged to Shah Jahan, the Indian emperor who built the Taj Mahal, was sold for 1.7 million pounds (3.3 million dollars) at auction in London Thursday. Auction house Bonhams said the elegant dagger, with its fine gold inscriptions and decoration, was sold for more than triple its estimated price of between 300,000 and 500,000 pounds.
The piece, dating back to 1629-30, was the highlight of Bonhams' Indian and Islamic sale in London.
It belonged to Jacques Desenfans, the late Belgian art collector who came to international attention when the last Shah of Iran visited him at his home in 1969.
The dagger bears the name of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, his date of birth, official titles and the honorific parasol, an ancient pan- Asian symbol of divinity of royalty.
Claire Penhallurick, head of the Indian and Islamic department at Bonhams Thursday described the sale as very unusual and said it was probably only the second knife belonging to Shah Jahan left in the world.
"It was a great privilege to sell such an extraordinary Indian artefact...objects of this quality and importance come to the market very, very rarely."
Few items belonging to Emperor Shah Jahan have survived from his lifetime between 1592-1666.
His reign was known as the Golden Age of the Mughals, famous for his construction of the Taj Mahal as a memorial to his beloved wife.
