After German artefact dealer says he wants to sell Gandhi's memorabilia to whoever is willing to buy, Alisha Coelho goes u00a0online and finds thousands of items inspired by Gandhi

German artefact dealer Peter Ruhe may be undertaking the hunt for collectibles in the country on foot, but there's a flood of Gandhi memorabilia up for grabs online.

And while most of the items online may not rank highly in authenticity (the Mahatma might have never owned a stuffed duck), Gandhi items still top the charts in terms of celebrity collectibles.

For example, on eBay India, a search for Gandhi items returns over 2,500 hits that include items like stamp colour proofs priced at Rs 40,000 to notes and coins bearing Gandhi for Re 1.

The search on Amazon.com yields even higher results and a range of items, including infant jumpsuits, stuffed toys with Gandhi slogan T-shirts and even a white thong bearing part of Gandhi's famous saying, 'Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment'.

In Demand: A stuffed duck that wears a T-shirt bearing a Gandhi u00a0 saying is available on Amazon.com and a negative sheet u00a0of Gandhi's first appearance before a microphone is priced at Rs 5 lakh on eBay

Gandhi tops the popularity charts on eBay India with Shah Rukh Khan trailing behind with around 750 items.

In addition to Gandhi memorabilia on the Indian site, the UK and US eBay pages also have around 2,000 Gandhi items up for sale.

Among the stamps collection on the Indian site, 'Gandhi' and 'Gandhi 1948' were among the top five keyword searches.

"Someone buys a stamp every 10 minutes and a coin every nine minutes," said Deepa Thomas, spokesperson for eBay India.

The most expensive Gandhi item currently on eBay is a negative sheet of Gandhi's first appearance before a microphone to announce the terms discussed with Viceroy Lord Irwin. It is up for nearly Rs 5 lakh.

However, Gandhi's great grandson Tushar is less than amused. "Vijay Mallya spent an enormous amount on getting Gandhi items back to India.

That money could have been put to much better use. Gandhi's values are of far more importance.

As for the online auctions, it's a business and so long as people are not getting duped about the collectible, there shouldn't be any problem," he said.

Buying Gandhi

Peter Ruhe's recently visited Sabarmati Ashram, where he admitted he wanted to sell Gandhi's heritage, even to McDonald's. Ruhe reportedly has several items of Gandhi memorabilia.

The Sabarmati Ashram Trust on Monday proclaimed that it was going to buy back Gandhi memorabilia and create a heritage site where people could view artifacts and purchase copies at a price.