John Wayne as The Quiet Man.
A bronze bust of John Wayne as The Quiet Man is to be sold as part of the Aidan Foley’s Ashford Castle contents auction in Co. Mayo on February 7 and 8. It was cast from the original mould for The Quiet Man statue in the village of Cong, setting in 1951 for the film starring Wayne and Maureen O’Hara.
John Ford won an Academy Award for Best Director of the film, which was in 2013 selected for preservation in the US National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
The unique life sized bust is the work of sculptor Mark Rode who has a studio and foundry in Co. Mayo. Money raised will go to the Cong Festival Committee. There is no estimate on the piece. It will be sold alongside one of eight scaled down replicas of the statue.
UPDATE: THE BUST SOLD ON THE INTERNET FOR 3,900
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for January 24, 2015).