Famine soup pots auctioned in Fermoy
An auction held in Fermoy last weekend contained, among other items, five famine soup pots. The five items were up for public auction with estimates of several hundred euro for each, the largest with an un upper estimate of €1,200. The five pots were owned by one single owner; none met the reserve price on the day but two were later bought by a landscape designer.
The auction was run by Ray Alley, a recently established auctioneer in the town and held in The Richmond Revival on Richmond Hill (Walkers’ Hill). The location is somewhat ironic, as midway up the hill the evidence of a famine ‘relief work’ wall can be clearly seen today.
Mr Alley says there is ‘considerable interest’ in the remaining three famine pots, from which soup would be served to the starving and destitute children and adults of the great hunger.
Speaking with The Avondhu, Mr Alley said that when authenticating such an item, identifying features are that it will be cast iron, a ‘bell jar’ shape and shows a lot of rust or other signs of ageing. He also compares items that are already authenticated, saying one of the pots is ‘ very similiar’ to the famine pot which sits in the Independence museum in Kilmurry, near the site where Michael Collins was ambushed and shot.
”The 5 famine pots were consigned to auction by one private collector,” Ray confirmed.
“As a newly licensed auctioneer, it was a privilege to exhibit five famine pots in our most recent auction. A famine pot is highly collectable owing to their scarcity and each one is quite unique. But not only that, considering what they represent, they are a not only an antique or a collectors item, but a genuine historical artefact”.