Battle of the Boyne musket fetches £20,000 at auction

Ian Paisley had presented the musket to Bertie Ahern at the site of the Battle of the Boyne

A musket presented as a symbolic gesture by Ian Paisley to Bertie Ahern has fetched £20,000 at auction.

The antique weapon is thought to have been used both in the Siege of Derry and the 1690 Battle of the Boyne.

An anonymous telephone bidder bought the gun at Ross's Auctioneers in Belfast on Thursday.

It had been presented by Mr Paisley to the then Irish prime minister in April 2007 during a historic meeting at the Boyne site in County Meath.

The auctioneers said the gun was in pristine condition

The sale of the musket attracted the attention of the media

Mr Paisley's visit at the invitation of the Republic of Ireland's government came just a month after devolution was restored to Stormont, and was Mr Paisley's first trip outside Northern Ireland as first minister.

The privately-owned musket was on loan to the Irish state but returned in 2011 to its owner, a County Antrim businessman who wanted to remain anonymous.

Auctioneer Daniel Clarke said it was rare to find an antique gun in such pristine condition.

"The gun was in the same family for around 300 years, and they can apparently trace their ancestor back to the army of King James II," he said.

"In the last 10 to 15 years it has been in the ownership of a County Antrim collector."

Every 12 July, the Protestant Orange Order celebrates William of Orange's victory over the Catholic King James II at the Battle of the Boyne.

The gesture of reconciliation by the then DUP leader, who died in 2014, was in return for Mr Ahern's gift at earlier political talks of a walnut bowl made from a tree at the battle site.

Mr Paisley had joked to Mr Ahern: "I trust you will not allow any of these weapons to be commissioned.

"You'll have to have the person in charge of decommissioning on a full-time job to see that all is well."