Taken out of the country illegally, as many as 16 heritage items from Chandigarh were auctioned for ₹3.93 crore in France on September 18.
Officials said the auctioned articles were designed by Swiss architect Pierre Jeanneret, cousin of Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier, who planned Chandigarh.
These included a pair of easy chairs, a periodical bookcase, a demountable desk, a pair of writing desk chairs, a demountable daybed, a bench, a dining table, a storage unit, a set of three stools, a fireside sofa, a pair of fireside armchairs, a sewing stool, a pair of file rack storage units, a coffee table, a pair of advocate armchairs and a committee chair.
The bookcase fetched the highest amount of ₹40.70 lakh, followed by a set of three stools for ₹23.08 lakh and the sewing stool for ₹8.13 lakh.
On July 17, a file rack and a pair of nightstands, also designed by Jeanneret, were auctioned for ₹18.56 lakh in Los Angeles, US.