LONDON (AP) — An English auction house is selling a chunk of metal it says came from the buttock of a bronze Saddam Hussein statue that was toppled in Iraq in 2003.
Charles Hanson, of Hansons Auctioneers, says the relic was obtained and owned by former British Special Air Service soldier Nigel Ely.
Hanson said Tuesday that Ely used a hammer and crowbar to remove the piece from the statue’s backside after American soldiers toppled the monument in Baghdad in April 2003.
Hanson said Ely wants to sell it because he feels it is an “iconic piece of history.” Hanson said: “The exotic part of the bottom makes it all the more interesting.”