Hot Air Balloon Victorian Lantern
£POA
Very rare, huge at 25ft circumference, hot air ballon lantern.
Have only seen surviving examples in museum collections (such as the Victoria and Albert Museum) dating from approximately 1900 to 1914.
Named after the Montgolfier brothers, the 18th-century pioneers of hot-air ballooning.
The instructions note to saturate wool with Methylated Spirit (denatured alcohol), ignite it to heat the air inside the tissue-paper-and-wire balloon, and release it once it gains lifting power.
This is a new old stock and hasn't been taken out its original packaging.
Origin: English
Period: 1900