Captain Cook's pistol fetches $ 227,000 at auction

SYDNEY (Reuters)-a gun owned by British Explorer Captain James Cook, who first claimed Australia for Great Britain almost two and a half century ago, sold on Thursday for a $ 219,600 ($ 227,100), above the maximum set by auctioneers estimate.

The brass gun, a gun Holster Flint continental of the 18th century with a 13-hole barrel made from Dutch gunmaker Godefroi Corbau Le Jeune, had a presale estimate of $ 100,000 to $ 200, 000.

One of the few rare personal effects left by explorer, the gun went to a private buyer in Victoria, Australia, said Cassandra Hilber, Leski auctions.

"There was a lot of interest as well as from New Zealand," he added.

Cook reached the coast of Australia in April 1770, the first European recorded to meet the East coast of the continent, having mapped the coasts of New Zealand. In August, he planted the British flag on possession island in Northern Queensland.

It is not known if Cook was carrying the gun when they first stepped on Australian soil.

Cook made two exploratory expeditions to the Pacific and was killed in Hawaii in 1779.

The gun remained in the family Cook for more than two centuries before being purchased by former Lord Mayor of Melbourne Ron Walker at an auction in Edinburgh in 2003.

(Australian dollars $ 1 = 0.9669)

(Reporting by Thuy Ngo and Elaine Lies, editing by Paul Casciato)

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