Lots of history as auction spans 5,000 years
A DUBLIN auction house has described flicking through its latest catalogue as like watching an episode of Reeling In The Years that spans five millennia.
The oldest lot in Whyte’s annual Eclectic Collector sale is a Bronze Age sword from 3100 BC, which has an estimated price of between €1,000 and €1,500.
The newest lots are the 2016 medals for the Defence Forces and An Garda Síochána to mark the centenary of the Easter Rising, which are valued at up to €200 each.
There is also republican art from the Maze Prison, including a life-size carved wood replica of an Armalite rifle. From 1997, there’s astronaut Neil Armstrong’s autograph on a bar bill of Ballybunion Golf Club, set to fetch up to €300.
There are also 1978 posters protesting the construction of Dublin City Council offices at Wood Quay, and autographs by The Beatles valued at up to €3,000.
Auctioneer Ian Whyte said one outstanding relic is the 1803 Proclamation penned by Robert Emmet for the rebellion of that year, valued at up to €70,000.
The timed online auction will be held this Saturday, May 21.