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sl8

(16,486 posts)
Sun Jun 16, 2024, 08:36 AM Jun 2024

Historic writer's desk could be 'knackered' old fake [View all]

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8995q12z8eo

Historic writer's desk could be 'knackered' old fake

12 hours ago
By Sean Coughlan, BBC News

The desk of the writer Dr Samuel Johnson is to be returned to his former London home for the first time in more than 260 years.

Except, in a strange twist, its owner is now uncertain whether it really is the desk of the famous 18th Century dictionary author.

It's been suggested that despite many years of being treated as a literary relic, it could have been part of a Victorian hustle to make money.

It will be the star attraction of a new museum exhibition, but visitors will be asked whether they now believe it's authentic.

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The plaque records the desk being given to the Oxford college in 1867

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