THE personal protection weapon of Michael Collins has been handed over by his family to the National Museum.
The Luger pistol and its matching hand-made holster are to be put on show with other artifacts at Collins Barracks, Dublin, the museum building already named after him.
The family has also handed over a Mauser pistol, nicknamed "Peter the Painter". It was used by Tom Keogh, one of a squad known as the "Twelve Apostles," sent out by Collins, which in one day assassinated 12 suspected British intelligence agents in 1920.
The decommissioned weapons were handed over by the great grand-nephew of the original Collins, also called Michael. He said yesterday: "It was fun and exciting as a kid growing up to have a gun in the house - it brings the history home, brings it clearer."
Collins played a major part in the 1916 rising against British rule.
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