Lock of Michael Collins’ hair sells for €21,000 at auction

Auctioneer Karl Bennett holding a lock of Michael Collins hair at Bloomfield Auctions in east Belfast. Picture: Liam McBurney/PA

A lock of hair belonging to Michael Collins has sold at auction for more than €21,000 (£18,000).

A revolver the republican leader reputedly had on his person when helping spring fellow revolutionary and future taoiseach Eamon De Valera from Lincoln Jail in 1919 has also gone under the hammer, selling for just over €10,000 (£9,000).