Padraig Pearse’s 1913 membership card for The Irish Volunteers will highlight The History Sale at Whyte’s in Dublin on November 11. The rarity of this unique relic from the leader of the 1916 Rising inscribed in indelible pencil in his own hand is reflected in an estimate of €150,000-€250,000. Issued on December 9 it is signed by Pearse and renewals up to January 1914 are initialled by him. Pearse left the Irish Volunteers when the organisation split over John Redmond agreeing to support Britain in the war with Germany. It is inscribed: Padraic Mac Piarais Sgoil Eanna and numbered 100. Gifted by Pearse’s mother Margaret to Micheal Mac Ruaidhri who was with Pearse at the GPO on Easter Monday 1916 the provenance is impeccable.
The 295 lots in the auction span four centuries, with maps from the 1660’s to autographed photographs of Taoisigh of the 1970’s and ’80’s. A group of medals awarded to Vinnie Byrne is estimated at €10,000-€15,000. He was the most prominent member of the Michael Collins squad responsible for the assassination of British military intelligence officers during the War of Independence. A 1916 Rising medal awarded to Dublin volunteer Sean O’Shaughnessy is part of a group including a War of Independence medal and estimated at €4,000-€6,000. The extraordinary collection of medals formed by the artist Thomas Ryan (1929-2021), former president of the Royal Hibernian Academy, is a major feature of the sale. His interest was in the art and design of commemorative, history, educational and agricultural medals from the 17th to the 19th century. More than 250 medals will be sold in 130 lots.
The earliest is a copper issued to Dorcas Brabazon, wife of the Secretary of State for Ireland George Lane. Other medals commemorate Oliver Goldsmith, Henry Grattan, the Duke of Wellington, Fr. Matthew, Wolfe Tone, Daniel O’Connell and Charles Stewart Parnell. There are farming medals, schools and university medals and a selection of church medals depicting popes from the 17th to the 21st century. There are lithographs of two portraits by Sir John Lavery of Michael Collins and Arthur Griffiths, each signed by both artist and sitter. Lavery painted the portraits in 1921 while they were in London negotiating the terms of the Irish Treaty. (€8,000-€12,000). Two volumes of engravings by the English caricaturist James Gillray (1756-1811) are estimated at €6,000-€8,000. There is a similar estimate on an extremely rare programme for the 1913 All Ireland Football Final between Kerry and Wexford. Among the other top lots is a selection of correspondence by Padraig Pearse from 1911-12 concerning St. Enda’s. regulations signed by Michael Collins as Minister for Finance, silver models of the domes of the Four Courts and Government Buildings by Lorcan Brereton and 1966 Rising Anniversary gold and silver medals.
