Last Week I Noticed That 2 Pairs Of Spectacles ,

were coming up for sale at Sotheby's,

but not just any old pair of spectacles, this is a pair of Mughal spectacles set with emerald lenses, in diamond-mounted frames, India, lenses circa 17th century, frames 19th century, the first mention of emeralds to soothe and protect the eyes dates to the first century AD in Pliny the Elder’s ‘Natural History’ (Naturalis Historia), an encyclopaedia of ancient knowledge. He notes that: “[…] after straining our eyes by looking at another object, we can restore our vision to normal by gazing at an emerald”. This is perhaps why Pliny also noted that the Emperor Nero (r.54-68 AD) used emeralds to watch the gory gladiator combats, thus protecting his sight from the bloody scenes, the spectacles were offered as Lot 213 of Sotheby’s London sale Arts of the Islamic World & India on 27th October, 2021. It’s estimated to sell between 1.5 and 2 million GDP. so here is the question, how much did they sell for? think of a number and scroll down to see if you are correct!

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and the answer is, they did not sell! “Over the past month, these spectacular objects have been marvelled at wherever we exhibited them—from New York to Hong Kong to London,” a Sotheby’s spokesperson said in an email statement to National Jeweller Wednesday, “Anyone who has laid eyes on them is in no doubt that they are indeed something very special, and we have every faith that the huge interest we have seen will translate into a different result later down the line.” I wonder if there was a reserve put on them? well you never know you might have bought them really cheap!