From the Indian Mutiny to a group image with Michael Collins, an 1866 engraving of the opening of the Cork Macroom Railway to car travelling in the south of Ireland in 1836 Whyte’s Eclectic Collector sale in Dublin on February 3 promises to be brimful of interest.
These auctions have thrown up a huge variety of fascinating items of interested to all sorts of collectors. Not surprising then how popular they have proved to be.
The 1922 photo of Michael Collins with Free State army officers shows a group of five, four in uniform, one in civilian clothing, standing on a roadway. The handwritten caption reads: “Col. Dunphy – Michael – Dalton – McMahon – O’Hegarty”. Pasted on a mount it is estimated at 200-300.
There is a set of six Bianconi prints by Michael Angelo Hayes and signed by Bianconi on car travelling in the south of Ireland in 1836. Born in Italy in 1786 and a refugee from Napoleon’s armies Carlo Bianconi came to Ireland at the age of 16 and started out as an engraver and printseller in Dublin. In Clonmel in 1815 he established the first reliable public transport in Ireland when he began a regular carriage service between Clonmel and Cahir. The cost was one penny farthing a mile. The service continued to the 1850’s by which time there were a number of railway services in Ireland. Framed in rosewood and gilt frames the prints are estimated at 800-1,200.
A collection of 13 hand coloured engraved topographical views of Munster includes four views of Cork and environs after Bartlett, four views of west Cork and Kerry by Day and Haghe and four views of Limerick and Tipperary by Alexander Hogg. They are estimated to make 150-200. Viewing for the sale of over 500 lots gets underway on January 31 and the catalogue is already online.