Pistols owned by Simon Bolivar sell for US$1.8m

NEW YORK: A pair of pistols that once belonged to the Latin American independence hero Simon Bolivar sold for US$1.8 million (RM6.96 million) at the auction house Christie's in New York on Wednesday.
The guns' provenance prompted special interest. They were a present from the French aristocrat the Marquis de Lafayette, who fought in the French and American revolutions and believed Bolivar – who led the liberation of several states from Spanish rule – shared common Enlightenment ideals.
He sent Bolivar the two ceremonial pistols, made by royal gunsmiths at Versailles, in 1825.
Contained inside a wooden box, the weapons are inlaid with gold and silver and embossed with symbols from Greek and Roman mythology.
Born into a wealthy family in Caracas, Bolivar led the troops who forced the Spanish to surrender control of the Captaincy General of Venezuela in 1813.
He went on to play a decisive role in the establishment of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, whose name is derived from his.
He died in 1830 at age 47. — AFP