A brass table lamp as Cleopatra's needle bearing inscription to base, “Cleopatra's needle erected by Thutmose III Heliopolis, 1700BC"

These now scarce oil lamp bases were made as a celebration of the needle being erected in London in period.

Now wired for electricity, pat tested.

H:46 W:17 D:17 CM

H:18 W:6.8 D:6.8 INCHES.

Modelled on one of a pair of obelisks, together named Cleopatras needles that were moved from the ruins of the Caesareun of Alexandria in Egypt, in the 19th century. Inscribed by Thutmose III and later Rameses III of the Egyptian new kingdom, the obelisk was moved in 12 BC to Alexandria, where it remained for over 1,800 years.

It was presented to the United Kingdom in 1819 by the ruler of Egypt and Sudan Muhammad Ali as a diplomatic gift.

Although the British government welcomed the gesture, it declined to pay to move the obelisk to London. It was subsequently erected in the west end of London on the Victoria embankment in Westminster in 1878.