$20,000 diamond, silver train model: A look at some gifts from India to US presidents
Here, we give you a brief recap of the gifts that US presidents have received from India over the years.
US President Donald Trump's administration may receive a Boeing 747-8 airplane from the Qatari royal family that would be outfitted to serve as Air Force One, Reuters, citing a source, has reported.
Reacting to the report, Ali Al-Ansari, Qatar’s media attaché, in a statement said, “Reports that a jet is being gifted by Qatar to the United States government during the upcoming visit of President Trump are inaccurate.”
“The possible transfer of an aircraft for temporary use as Air Force One is currently under consideration between Qatar’s Ministry of Defense and the US Department of Defense. But the matter remains under review by the respective legal departments, and no decision has been made,” the statement said.
A new commercial 747-8 costs approximately $400 million.
While Trump may not receive a $400 million gift from Qatar, the story has generated interest in past presidential gifts. Here, we give you a brief recap of the gifts that US presidents have received from India over the years.
2024: Prime Minister Narendra Modi gifted a silver antique train model to the then US President Joe Biden and a pashmina shawl to his wife, then First Lady, Jill Biden. The train model is made of 92.5 per cent silver and is a rare hand-engraved piece exhibiting the craftsmanship of artisans from Maharashtra.
2023: PM Modi gave the then US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden gifts worth thousands of dollars, including a diamond worth $20,000 ( ₹17.15 lakh). The 7.5-carat green lab-grown eco-friendly diamond was gifted to Jill Biden. The diamond was placed in a box made of paper pulp, known as kar-e-kalamdani.
The same year, PM Modi gave a handcrafted sandalwood box to Joe Biden which contained a silver idol of Lord Ganesha, a diya (oil lamp) and 'Das Danam'. Biden was also given a copy of the first edition print of the book The Ten Principal Upanishads.
2017: Trump was gifted a wooden chest and a folio adorned with a 1965 Indian postage stamp that marked the death of Abraham Lincoln. PM Modi also presented to Trump a wooden chest with intricate inlay pattern that is a speciality of Hoshiarpur in Punjab. He had also gifted First Lady Melania Trump a hamper containing a traditional, handcrafted Himachali silver bracelet, tea and honey from Kangra valley, and hand-woven shawls from Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.
2015: Former US president Barack Obama received gifts worth about $3,000 during his visit to India in 2015. He was presented telegram facsimile from the US to India’s Constituent Assembly in 1946 and reproduction of the cover page of a report on India’s Constitutional Debates. PM Modi also presented him a framed photograph of Marian Anderson’s radio interview in India and a hand-carved wooden Jali box with a small wooden latch and photo of Marian Anderson’s radio interview in India on the lid.
Obama also received a hand-carved black wooden Jali box with painting on the lid; blue Shahmina shawl, red Shahmina shawl and beige and cream coloured shahmina shawl. News agency PTI citing State Department Protocol Office said their estimated value was $1,231.
2003: As per orfonline.com, then late Atal Behari Vajpayee, who was the Prime Minister then, had gifted then US President Bill Clinton a silk carpet.
2004: Then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gifted George W Bush a marble tabletop inlaid with precious stones that reflected the colours of both the Indian and the American flags. The next year, a silver box with the designs of the Diwan-e-Am (Hall of Audience) was presented by PM Singh to Bush.
As per the US law, foreign gifts valued at less than $480 can be retained by federal employees. Any gift with amount above that is considered a gift to the “people of the United States”. It must be logged and then disposed of by the White House Gift Unit. Most gifts are transferred to the national archives or the presidents future presidential library.
