WASHINGTON (WTHR) — The Broadway smash hit "Hamilton" has boosted interest in the famous deadly duel between former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton and Vice President Aaron Burr.
And now, for a limited time, you can actually see the pistols used in that duel that killed Hamilton.
The rarely seen pistols at the center of the Burr-Hamilton duel are on display at the National Postal Museum.
Starting Friday, you can check out the two guns used by Hamilton and Burr in 1804.
You will find them inside the new Hamilton exhibit at the museum.
The original set of dueling pistols are on loan from JP Morgan Chase for this rare public viewing.
They were made by a leading English gunsmith and first owned by Hamilton’s brother-in-law.
It's a rare look into one of the country's most famous stories.
"It's cool to be able to show it to the public,” said Daniel Piazza, National Postal Museum Curator. “But it’s cool for me because long before there was a musical, long before Hamilton mania was a big thing, I was a Hamilton fan."
“The idea of the Secretary of the Treasury and the Vice President of the United States dueling, and one killing the other,” said Piazza, “people will stop and pause and reflect on that."
"One of the things you will get a sense of on seeing them is how heavy they look. These are not light weapons. These are very heavy weapons," said Piazza.
"It's even rarer that they're on display in Washington, D.C. and we have them, not for the entire run of the exhibit. They're only here for a few weeks,” said Piazza. “So there is a limited opportunity to see them. But I think having them here will bring people into the museum, and then, I hope they'll spend time in the rest of the museum too seeing the other objects."
The guns will only be on display through June 24, but entire Hamilton exhibit is open to the public until next March.
It includes artifacts like signed mail from Hamilton, the earliest postage stamps honoring his legacy, and a marble bust of the former treasury secretary.