An opium bong claimed to have belonged to Lord Byron and recently sold for £1,100,000, is on show at a London art fair which launched yesterday.
But is just a hoax?
London gallery Pertwee, Anderson and Gold say the glass object belonged to the poet when he was a wayward student at Cambridge University in the early 1800s.
Lord Byron (1788 – 1824) was regarded as one of the greatest British poets and a leading figure of the Romantic movement. But he was also notorious for his love of opium, the narcotic poppy derivative that is used to make heroin.
According to a description near the exhibit at The London Art Fair, the bong was found during a routine refurbishment at Trinity College, Cambridge along with “a set of shackles, a bull whip and several quills.”
Olivia, the gallery’s manager, said: “It has had several owners before being owned by The Hanbury Collection. It was subsequently bought by a museum but they’ve allowed us to show this.”
However, further digging reveals both John Hanbury and The Hanbury Collection, the supposed collection of artefacts belonging to the mysterious John Hanbury, to be fakes constructed by artists the Connor Brothers.
The plot thickens when it turns out these artists are represented by the gallery Pertwee, Anderson and Gold.
When asked if the bong was in fact a fake, Olivia mysteriously replied: “I can not confirm that, but I can not deny it either.”
ZEFFADELICA 