"Who knows if it is the real ax?" says Leon Trotsky’s grandson, Esteban Volkov, dismissively to the Guardian. Keith Melton, for one. The private collector says he staunchly believes that an ice pick he recently purchased and plans to display at the International Spy Museum in Washington is the one that ended up two-inches-deep into Trotsky's head on Aug. 20, 1940.
The Russian revolutionary was dead a day later. The Guardian traces the murky path the ax took after it was wielded by a man who went by Frank Jacson (in reality Spanish communist Ramón Mercader) and visited Trotsky at his Mexico City-area home under the guise of wanting his feedback on an article. It was briefly shown to the public at a police press conference, then stored as evidence until police officer Alfredo Salas took it.
Read the full story on Newser.com
More From Newser