14 DAY TRIAL // Admittedly, there are all sorts of funky things people buy and sell on the Internet. Then again, 53-year-old Leo Bonton pretty much set a new standard for online craziness when he tried to auction off his amputated leg turned into a lamp.
Mind you, eBay pulled the plug on this downright bizarre sale long before word about it got out, and so the leg lamp is still Leo Bonten's property. Until the next time he'll try to sell it, that is.
An unfortunate accident
Media reports say that this Dutch man lost his limb following an accident that happened a couple of years ago. Thus, it was in July 2012 that he fell into a pool and broke his right leg.
Doctors tried to put everything back in its rightful place, but unfortunately, the injuries were too severe for them to treat. Eventually, Leo Bonten also developed an infection in his wounded limb, and so specialists decided that the only thing left to do was to amputate.
By the looks of it, the man decided that he wanted to keep his leg almost as soon as the doctors told him that they would have to cut it off. What's more, he told the surgeons in charge of handling his case that he wanted to turn it into a floor lamp.
“My leg is my property. People keep their kidney stones in a jar on the mantelpieces. Ashes of deceased people are included in tattoos. I’m going to make a lamp of my leg,” the man offered as an explanation for his decision.
Seeing how hospitals are required by law to properly dispose of whatever body parts they remove from their patients, the 53-year-old had to make an appearance in front of a court of law and plead his case. Oddly enough, he was told that he could keep the leg.
The making of a leg lamp
Having been given permission to do as he pleased with his amputated limb, the man had it put in a cylindrical container filled with formaldehyde. This cylinder, visible in the photo accompanying this article, became the central piece of the floor lamp.
According to Huffington Post, lamp maker Willem Schäperkötter spent about 2 weeks working on this project. In fact, he finished putting together the lamp around the time when Leo Bonten was discharged from the hospital where his right leg was cut off.
The one-of-a-kind eBay auction
It is understood that 53-year-old Leo Bonten tried to sell his peculiar leg lamp on eBay after getting into some financial trouble. He expected to find people ready and willing to bid for it, and in a very weird way, cash in on his accident.
Unfortunately, things did not go quite as planned. Thus, eBay pulled the plug on this auction almost immediately after the man launched it. Apparently, eBay did so because the lamp leg auction went against its policy not to sell any body parts.
In case anyone was wondering, Leo Bonten was hoping to get about €100,000 (approximately $127,500) for his peculiar lamp. Seeing how he is still having financial difficulties, chances are that he will very soon try to sell it again.