Unusual gifts received by US presidents include a gold snuff box, giant pandas, elephant tusks and personalized rugs

The White House may be courting controversy with President Trump’s plans to accept a luxury jumbo jet from the Qatari government, worth $400 million, as the potential new Air Force One — but his administration wouldn’t be the first to welcome lavish gifts from foreign leaders.The practice goes all the way back to the founding of the country in 1776, with US leaders receiving all manner of exotic and expensive gifts from royalty and heads of government around the world.Abraham Lincoln politely declined a gift of a herd of elephants from the King of Siam, modern day Thailand, in 1862.But he kept “a sword of costly materials and exquisite workmanship,” a photo of the monarch’s family and two elephant tusks, according to a letter Lincoln sent to King Mongkut.In 1880, Queen Victoria sent an intricately carved, 1,300-pound wooden desk to President Rutherford Hayes that was constructed from the oak timbers of the HMS Resolute, an Arctic exploration vessel.

The desk was still in use in the Oval Office under the Biden administration but was temporarily removed in February for refinishing, according to reports.British Prime Minister Winston Churchill presented Franklin D.Roosevelt with a painting he did of Marrakech’s Koutoubia Mosque in 1943.

Hollywood actor Brad Pitt bought the work in New Orleans for $2.95 million as a gift for his then-wife Angelina Jolie, who sold it a decade later for $11.5 million.Richard Nixon accepted a gift of two giant pandas from China in 1972 following the US president’s visit to the Communist country.Female panda Ling-Ling and her male mate Hsing-Hsing were given to the National Zoo in Washington DC.

In 1997, President Clinton and wife Hillary received the gift of a handmade rug with their pictures woven into the tapestry as a gift from Azerbaijan’s leader Heydar Aliyev.The six-by-five-foot rug was completed in a single day by a team of 12 women, according to reports. President George W.

Bush received 300 pounds of raw la...