Shah Jahan's dagger sells for US$3.3 million

A dagger used by the emperor who built the Taj Mahal sold Thursday for the equivalent of US$3.3 million.

It once belonged to 17th century Mogul emperor Shah Jahan, whose empire spanned the entire Indian subcontinent and what is now Afghanistan. A royal emblem and dates inscribed on the curved-tip blade suggest it was made in 1630 for the emperor's 39th birthday. Shah Jahan's name and title are also inscribed on the blade.

The dagger sold for three times its expected auction price at Bonhams Indian and Islamic sale in central London. It was the top seller in a group of weapons, armour, early pottery and works of art that belonged to late Belgian collector Jacques Desenfans.

The emperor collected precious stones and gold-embellished blades but there is only one other known Shah Jahan blade, which is held in a private collection.

Shah Jahan's 30-year reign is known as the Golden Age of the Moguls. He built many monuments including the Pearl Mosque at Agra and the palace in Delhi.

Construction on the Taj Mahal, now designated one of the Seven Wonders of the World, took 22 years. Twenty-thousand workers laboured to build the white marble Taj Mahal in the mid-1600s in memory of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died in childbirth. It cost 32 million rupees.