NATIONAL Trust officials who needed proof before they would restore a trident to Neptune in Westbury Court Gardens had better start making a replacement.
For a magic lantern slide owned by a Huntley man clearly shows that the old boy is taking a stab at something, and it's not a table-fork he's holding!
The National Trust raised the trident challenge after Ian Bendall, of Bream, contacted Westbury Court head gardener Richard Bentley, and asked why Neptune had no spear.
Richard passed the request on to National Trust bosses who said they would restore it only if it could be proved that the trident had existed in the past. It was restoration policy to preserve things as they had always appeared.
"Otherwise, he must remain tridentless for the same reason that dictates Venus de Milo shall remain armless," said Mr Bendall.
Our story in the Review a few weeks ago revived a flurry of memories, with some people claiming they had seen the statue with a spear and some saying there never was one. Photographic evidence, though, was inconclusive – until the most recent find.
The slide is owned by Paul Drinkwater, whose father used to own curio and secondhand shops in Gloucester and Stroud called Exchange and Mart.
"We kept a few interesting things, the slides among them, when the shops closed," he said.
"I have been past the gardens a few times, and I once tried to photograph Neptune from the same angle as the slide but it's impossible with the railings there now."
Mr Drinkwater, who works for the Land Registry office in Gloucester, said he had a collection of the slides, all apparently taken by the same man, which showed West Country views.
"We think they were all taken around 1900," he said.