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With everything from stamps of the 1922 Provisional Government of Ireland to rarities of the Deutsche Reich of 1941 with the head of Hitler the first of a series of auctions of stamps takes place at Woodwards in Cork on November 30. There are fascinating reminders of a rich and varied history contained in the stamp collection of John Luxford. It is considered to be one of the finest in Ireland and it is to be sold. The collection features stamps of Irish interest and stamps of Great Britain, France, Greece, Finland, Norway, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg and Vatican first day covers.  The catalogue is online.  Here is a taste.

The Provisional Government of a new Ireland, 1922.  UPDATE  THIS MADE 3,250

Stamps from an unhappy moment in German history.  UPDATE:  THIS MADE  800

ONE of the earliest notes issued by the Bank of Ireland, a rare example of a coin struck by the Lord Justices of Ireland in the mid-17th century and a halfpenny minted more than 800 years ago will come under the hammer at Dix Noonan Webb in London on December 5.  The company’s first ever specialist sale of Irish coins, tokens, medals and banknotes will feature almost 350 lots.

One of the most remarkable lots in the auction is a Bank of Ireland One Pound note issued on 11 January 1813 and numbered 7187. Very little is known about this series which was issued during the Peninsular War and was only in circulation for about three years.  It is estimated at £2,000-3,000.  There is a similar estimate on a first coinage halfpenny minted in Dublin during King John’s time here from 1172-1179. During the 1640’s the Lord Justices of Ireland authorised several issues of coinage of  which one was the so-called ‘Dublin Money’ which had the value in shillings and pence on each side. A very rare Dublin Money Crown is included and should sell for £2,000 to £2,500.

A Bank of Ireland One Pound note issued on 11 January 1813 and numbered 7187  UPDATE: THIS MADE £5,000 AT HAMMER

A First Coinage Halfpenny minted in Dublin during John’s period as Lord from 1172-1199  UPDATE: THIS MADE £5,800 AT HAMMER.

An image of Newton’s classic.  UPDATE: IT SOLD FOR £338,500

A closed cover view.

A first edition of Sir Isaac Newton’s Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (“Mathematical principles of natural philosophy”), published for the Royal Society in 1687 will highlight Sotheby’s sale of music, books and manuscripts in London on November 27.  This first issue copy of the first edition in its contemporary vellum binding is estimated at  £250,000-300,000.  The Principia explained a system of the universe that, once established, was unchallenged until the twentieth century ushered in quantum theory and the theories of relativity. It is thought that fewer than 300 copies of the first edition were printed.

Dr David Goldthorpe of Sotheby’s commented: “This book changed man’s understanding of the universe. Newton’s Principia was the culmination of the scientific revolution, effectively ushering in the era of modern science and modern physics with its mathematical explanations of gravity and motion.  Through its legacy, the book has probably done more to shape the modern world than any other ever published. Even Einstein, whose theories of relativity eventually came to revise those of Newton’s, declared that the Principia was ‘perhaps the greatest intellectual stride that it has ever been granted to any man to make’.”