Nobody wants a piece of Saddam’s buttock
Former British SAS soldier Nigel ‘Spud’ Ely poses for pictures with a bronze buttock from the statue of late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, in Derby, central England, on October 27, 2011. Ely, who was working in Baghdad in 2003, retrieved the two-foot wide piece of history and took it back to Britain shortly after U.S. marines dragged the statue down on live television. The buttock was to be auctioned Thursday in Derby, but bidders failed to meet the reserve price.
Saddam Hussein's buttock from the bronze statue famously brought down in Baghdad in 2003 has failed to sell at auction, the BBC reports.
The two-foot-wide buttock had been "liberated" by Nigel Ely, a former British SAS soldier who was working as part of television crew covering the fall of Baghdad. Ely had used a sledgehammer and a crowbar to remove the buttock, shortly after the statue was toppled by American soldiers.
According to Agence France-Presse, Ely had to pay $606 in excess baggage fees when he flew back to Britain with his oversized memento.
Saddam's bronze buttock went up for auction Thursday in Derby, England, with Ely saying the money raised would be donated to a charity helping injured British and American ex-soldiers.
But the highest bid at the auction, held by Hansons Auctioneers, was £21,000 ($34,000), which came from a telephone bidder in New York. This fell far below the reserve price of £250,000 ($402,000) set by Ely.
Auctioneer Charles Hanson told the Associated Press the item is an "iconic piece of history."
"The exotic part of the bottom makes it all the more interesting," Hanson said.
More from GlobalPost: My first day without Saddam
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