THE GREAT HARP ROBBERY

The most famous harp existing in Ireland, the so-called Brian Boru Harp, on display in Trinity College Library, serves as the model for the insignia of the Irish State, as well as that famous Guinness logo. While its origins are shrouded in debate, it is known that it was presented to Trinity College Dublin by William Conyngham in the late 18th century and was restored by experts at the British Museum in 1962. It was the subject of a dramatic robbery in 1969. Joseph Brady, an ex-British soldier, was recruited into the Irish Republican Army in 1967, and came up with the idea of stealing the precious medieval manuscript of the Book of Kells and holding it for ransom. After breaking into the college and finding himself unable to access the Book of Kells, he took the harp instead, and demanded a ransom of £20,000. A meeting point was arranged and a dramatic sting operation ensued. The culprits were apprehended and the harp, wrapped in black plastic, was recovered from a sand pit near Blessington in County Wicklow.