After 150 years, the United Kingdom is returning to Ghana on loan King Asante’s gold artefacts that are currently in the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) and the British Museum.

As the BBC reveals, the “golden peace pipe” is among the 32 items being returned as part of long-term loan deals.

The Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) is lending 17 pieces and 15 are from the British Museum.

Ghana’s chief negotiator said he hoped for “a new sense of cultural cooperation”.

Some of Britain’s national museums – including the V&A and the British Museum – are expressly prohibited from permanently returning relics, and loan deals like this are seen as the only way to return objects to their countries of origin.

However, fears are being raised by some states that accepting the loan would imply they are accepting British ownership.

Tristram Hunt, director of the V&A, speaking to the BBC said that the gold objects are equivalent to their own “Crown Jewels”.

For much of the 19th and 20th centuries, Ghana was a British colony, while it was the first country in Africa to gain independence from colonialism, in 1957.

The items to be loaned, most of which were taken during the wars, include a sword of state and gold badges of officials.

Ghana

They are the ultimate symbol of the Asante royal government of Ghana and by tradition are believed to be invested with the spirits of former Asante kings.