ROCK AND REVOLUTION HISTORY UP FOR GRABS AT AUCTION
AN original Proclamation of the Irish Republic is to go under the auction hammer next month.
Valued at €120,000, it is one of those published by the Irish Volunteers and Irish Citizen Army acting as ‘The Provisional Government of the Republic of Ireland’ dated Monday April 24, 1916.
It is being sold by Whyte’s Auction House in Dublin on September 15.
In ‘The Story of the 1916 Proclamation’ author John O’Connor said there were 17 examples left, of which at least six are in public institutions such as the Dáil, The National Museum and UCD. Two also exist in British government archives and there is one in the Royal Collection in Buckingham Palace.
Since 1986 about a dozen others have come to light from the original printing of fewer than 500.
Most were destroyed during and after the Rising. Printed on poor quality paper, those pasted up in outdoor locations disintegrated easily.
“This example was restored and conserved to museum standard in 2005, and is framed and glazed,” said Stuart Purcell, head of collectibles at Whyte’s.
“There has been a lot of interest by the public in this particular piece – all of whom have been Irish. The recession is well and truly dead, that’s for sure.”
Other items from the 595 lots in the series include a wooden rib from the first plane to fly non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean in 1919.
It is part of a wing aileron, from the Vickers Vimy flown by John Alcock and Arthur Brown from St John’s, Newfoundland, to Clifden, Co Galway.
After a 17-hour flight, the aircraft crash-landed in Derrygilmlagh Bog, near Clifden. It was removed from the crash site by Jim Fawl, later the proprietor of theShamrockBar, Connaught Street, Athlone.
Pádraig Pearse’s chair from St Enda’s school is also part of the auction with a price tag of €2,000. Pearse was a republican politician and revolutionary, and one of the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising.
The early 20th century stained oak and beech open armchair is accompanied by facsimile birth and marriage certificates relating to his nephew, Thomas Ernest Pearse. A letter of provenance from the current owner will be given to the purchaser. Thomas was the last surviving family member with the name Pearse.
U2 singer Bono’s school copy of ‘Lord of the Flies’, signed under his real name, Paul Hewson, can be bought for €600 while a Yamaha FG-260 12-string guitar signed in black felt-tip pen by Keith Richards, Ron Wood and Mick Taylor is also on sale.