Free State

A lock of hair belonging to Irish revolutionary leader Michael Collins has sold at auction for twice as much as a gun he used during a Jail Break .

Collins was the leader of the new Irish government and also The Chief of its National Army when he was killed during the Irish Civil War in 1922 .

The Lock of his hair, attached to a keepsake card, sold for £18,000 plus fees, according to Bloomfield Auctions.

A gun he used to break Éamon de Valera out of Lincoln Prison fetched £9,000.

Collins was said to have been in possession of the Smith and Wesson revolver when he helped fellow republican leader de Valera escape from the English prison in 1919.

Both lots were among A Number of historical artefacts linked to Collins which went under The Hammer in east Belfast on Wednesday, just months before the centenary of his death.

The sale attracted international interest, according to the auction firm's Managing Director Karl Bennett, who took queries from collectors in the United States and Australia as well as from the UK and Ireland.

" From an auctioneer's point of view, who has a very keen interest in history, it's good that pieces of history like this are bought and appreciated, and hopefully do go out on display, so stories can be told about our history and are Not Forgotten about, " He Said .

Although the buyers' identities have not been revealed, he told Bbc News NI that both items were expected to return to The Republic of Ireland.

He understands that The Gun is going into a private collection and he is hoping to hear within The Next few days if The Lock of hair will go to a museum or into a private collection.

So What is the background to The Lock of hair?

Michael Collins was 31 years old and engaged to be married to Kitty Kiernan when he was shot dead in an ambush in his native County Cork in August 1922 .

A cutting of his hair was reportedly taken as a memento after his death, and came into The Possession of senior Irish soldier Felix Cronin, The Man who would eventually marry Kitty Kiernan .

According to the auctioneer, Mr Cronin gave The Lock of hair to an unnamed colleague who passed it down his own family to The Most recent owner, whose identity has not been disclosed.

Collins was shot in The Head near The Village of Béal na Bláth in Cork less than two months into the Irish Civil War .

He was ambushed by rival republicans who opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty - The Peace deal Collins had signed up to with The British government the year before.

A reluctant Collins had been sent to London in October 1921 to negotiate The Deal by de Valera, the then president of the republican movement.

De Valera, a future taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister ) and president, broke out of Lincoln Prison using a replica key which had been baked into a cake and smuggled into the jail.

Collins was waiting outside Lincoln Prison for his then superior and The Weapon he was holding reached £9,000 in the auction.

Also sold on Wednesday was A Collection of documents from Collins' friend and comrade Emmet Dalton , who was with him when he was killed.

The documents, which include Dalton's emotional eyewitness account of Collins' assassination, sold for just under £10,000.

However, a walking stick believed to have been used by Collins did not sell after it failed to meet its reserve price.

Born on a farm in rural County Cork in 1890, Collins grew up to be one of The Most prominent figures in the Irish revolution, which led to the partition of The Island in 1921.

He moved from Cork to London as a teenager and worked for The British Civil Service as a postal clerk, but he returned to Ireland almost a decade later and took part in the 1916 Easter Rising .

That brief rebellion against British rule was crushed, but two years later Sinn Féin won a landslide election victory and Set Up a new breakaway government in Dublin.

Collins, by that stage an elected MP, became both a minister in the Provisional Government and director of intelligence for the Irish Republican Army (IRA).

Following the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921), a reluctant Collins was sent to London by de Valera to negotiate a peace deal.

The controversial created an independent Irish Free State , but it angered many republicans as it appeared to copper fasten Britain's recent partition of Ireland.

The treaty caused a bitter split in the republican movement and within months, tensions boiled over into the Irish Civil War .

Collins became commander-in-chief of the Free State 's new National Army as well as chairman (leader) of the Provisional Government .

His tenure in charge was short-lived however, as he was assassinated by anti-treaty forces in his native County Cork on 22 August, 1922 .

Source of news: bbc.com