British hoarder leaves behind 60,000 collectibles worth £4 million

A British hoarder who died earlier this year was discovered to have left behind an eye popping stash that could be worth £14 million. Ramann Shukla, 64, was a computer programmer who died of a heart attack and is now considered the UK's biggest hoarder to date. His colossal hoard consists of more than 60,000 items he had crammed into a terraced house, a rental flat, along with two garages and 24 wheelie bins.

In a report from the Mirror, Shukla's collection was stacked from floor to ceiling in every single room of his mother's home in Nottingham. Shukla's brother had called on Terry Woodcock of Unique Auctions, Lincoln, to handle the sales as he had no idea of the massive scale of his brother's collection.

The hoard consisted of many brand new and unopened parcels which took four weeks to unwrap and required all 18 staff members of the auction house to finish that task alone. It took eight men, three vans and over 180 hours to completely empty Shukla's house of all the items.

The auction house mapped out their selling plan by selling the collection in lots of 3,000 items during a four day sale. They estimate the hoard to be worth about £500,000 at the very least and could amount to as much as £4 million.

The hoard is an eclectic mix of thousands of memorabilia which includes items from the Beatles with a rare and signed Hard Day's Night LP worth about £4,000. Among the stash are signed photos and letters relating to JFK, Elvis Presley, Winston Churchill and even Gandhi.

There are 6,000 vintage comics on the list including a rare Justice League America Number One valued at £1,200. Other great finds to splurge on are the 3,000 vintage chemistry sets and an "excellent" collection of Russian and American space exploration memorabilia.

Shukla's hoard also has 12 Rickenbacker guitars that date back to the 1960s and 70s, which could sell for £10,000 each.

It was speculated that Shukla started collecting in 2002 with the intention of selling his precious items one day to fund his retirement.

The collection will be up for auction between October 22 and 25.