Vintage Hot Air Balloon — Handmade Metal Display Model

A hot air balloon in handcrafted metal — envelope frame, rigging and basket, built as a standing or hanging display piece.

Details

• Handcrafted metal construction
• Envelope frame, rigging lines and basket detail
• Hand-applied finish
• Suits a shelf, desk, nursery, study or shop display

The first flights

The Montgolfier brothers made paper and canvas balloons and, for a while, believed the lifting agent was a special gas produced by burning — they called it Montgolfier gas and fed the fire with wool and old shoes to make more of it. It was simply hot air.

The first manned free flight was in November 1783, over Paris, watched by a crowd that included Benjamin Franklin. Asked what use the thing could possibly be, he is supposed to have replied: what use is a newborn baby?