The Wolfe Tone Archive, the Thomas Ashe Archive, 1798 and 1916 Proclamations, 1916 Rising medals and an Irish silver porringer from the Cromwellian Commonwealth period all feature at The Eclectic Collector sale at Whyte’s in Dublin on July 25 and online only on July 26. The Molesworth St., Dublin auctioneers say that this exciting sale is the most important held in recent years. Memories of the Northern Ireland Troubles include the archive of Loyalist leader William ‘Plum’ Smith. And there is a unique collection of ephemera related to Count John McCormack.
The 1798 Proclamation composed by Wolfe Tone and issued by The General Commanding the French Army Jean Hardy to the People of Ireland has an estimate of €8,000-€12,000. An unsigned copy of Tone’s speech from the dock, four pages in his own hand, is estimated at €50,000-€70,000.A copy of The Proclamation, removed from the window of Hyman Marks, Jeweller, 31A Henry St. on April 25, 1916 by J. Brady in good condition though folded and slightly rubbed is estimated at €100,000-€150,000. There are 1917 letters from Michael Collins to Thomas Ashe, as well as letters from Constance Markievicz and W.T. Cosgrave among a large archive of personal Ashe material.There is a huge and varied collection of material relating to The Easter Rising and the aftermath. An archive of original letters, photographs and ephemera relating to Count John McCormack carries an estimate of €40,000-€60,000. The first part of the auction is at Freemason’s Hall on Molesworth St. Part two, a timed online only auction, gets underway at 1 pm on July 26. There are collections of militaria, coins and banknotes. A one owner Irish coin collection has examples ranging from Viking Dublin to Georgian Ireland.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for July 9, 2020)
