A 1953 All Ireland Senior Hurling Championship winners medal, a 20 pence piece from 1985 20 valued at 5,000-6,000, an archive of 25 lots from Mount Cashell and a rocket launcher from the Northern Ireland conflict are among the rich selection on offer at Whyte’s Eclectic Collector sale in Dublin on April 6.Defending champions Cork, captained by Christy Ring, retained their All-Ireland crown in 1953 with a 3-3 to 0-8 win over Galway. A nine carat gold medal from that final is estimated at 4,000-6,000.The sale of the RPG-7 rocket launcher is not without controversy. The catalogue says it was used by the Provisional IRA during the Troubles. Bulgarian made it was decommissioned in Birmingham in 2013 and is being sold with two inert rocket propelled grenades, an inert booster rocket and accessories. From a Republican collector the lot is estimated at 4,000-6,000.
More constitutional politics is represented in the sale in lots like a 1966 Presidential Election Fine Gael Poster for defeated candidate Tom O’Higgins and 1973 and 1989 general election posters. The old 20 pence coin is what is known as a trial piece issued in advance of production to various companies to facilitate the calibration of vending machines and coin operated devices. Less than 50 of the 500 issued by the Central Bank were not returned and about 10 examples have been recorded to date in private hands. This makes the 20 pence piece one of the rarest of modern Irish coins, even rarer than the 1943 florin. An old Lady Lavery £20 wartime bank note from 1943 is estimated at 5,000-6,000. The Mount Cashell Archive consists of 18 lots ranging from the 1692-1711 records of the town of Clonmel to the diaries of Stephen Moore, 3rd Earl of Mount Cashell (1792-1883) Tipperary estate map including tenants names to an 1893-1943 photograph album of the Coshmore and Coshbride hounds, Ballynatray, Co. Waterford and photograph albums of the Moore, More Smyth and Holroyd Smyth families. A Victorian Royal County of Limerick militia officer’s shako (military hat) with white metal plate is estimated at 1,500-2,000. The sale includes historical documents and artefacts, militaria, coins, banknotes, rare books, early maps, antiques and curios, rock and pop collectibies and advertising and sporting memorabilia among more than 600 lots.
UPDATE: The rocket launcher sold for a hammer price of 10,000, the diaries of Stephen Moore (1792-1883), 3rd Earl of Mount Cashell made 8,000, an Easter Rising and War if Indeoendence medal awarded to Herbert Conroy made 6,200, a Howth mauser rifle and converted bayonet made 10,500, the rare trial 20 pence piece made 5,400, a 1682 gold five guineas sold for 6,600, a Lady Lavery war code £20 note made 10,500, an 1871 Howth Mauser rifle and converted gras bayonet made 10,500 and the 1953 All Ireland winners Cork medal made 6,500.
