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  • Posts Tagged ‘HITLER’

    CELEBRITY LOTS INCLUDE MICHAEL COLLINS’S PISTOL LANYARD AT CORK SALES

    Saturday, August 22nd, 2026

    The pistol lanyard worn by Michael Collins on the day he was shot at Beal na mBlath. UPDATE: THIS WAS PASSED

    Hitler, the Titanic, de Valera, Collins – if celebrity sells then two auctions in Cork on August 29 have it in spades.  The choice between Lynes and Lynes in Carrigtwohill and Marshs in Ballinhassig is entirely yours.  If this poses a logistical challenge the good news is that both sales are online and they can be easily viewed separately next week.

    Regular readers already know that a heart shaped pendant cherished by a Titianic survivor who lost her husband and the Mercedes used by Hitler’s Ambassador to Ireland during World War II on whom the then Taoiseach Eamon de Valera called with condolences on the death of the Fuhrer are to be sold at Lynes and Lynes and Marshs respectively.

    With 472 lots in Carrigtwohill and 333 in Ballinhassig each sale offers much more than such singular collectibles.

    Lynes and Lynes has Michael Collins’s pistol lanyard, given by his older sister Mary Collins Powell to Comdt. Frank O’Friel at Shanakiel Hospital exactly 104 years ago.  Commandant O’Friel was part of the escort of the remains, brought to Shanakiel following the shooting of Michael Collins at Beal na Blath on August 22, 1922. The coffin was moved from Shanakiel to Penrose Quay under military escort which included Comdt. O’Friel and General Tom Ennis. The estimate on this unique piece of Collins memorabilia is €10,000-€15,000. Comdt. O’Friel’s gold medal for the Eastern Command Football Championship  in 1927 is estimated at €200-€300.

    A large dolls house and contents at Lynes and Lynes. UPDATE: THIS MADE 400 AT HAMMER

    The sale includes lots from the estate of the well known and greatly liked Cork businessman Ted Crosbie including some Cork and Scottish silver, seascape paintings, yachting books and  period furniture.  Viewing for an auction which includes a wide variety of items ranging from Waterford Crystal to toys, trains, postcards and a selection of framed posters relating to Youghal in days of yore starts today.

    The auction by Marshs next Saturday will  jog even more memories of those bygone days.  On offer here is the collection of Alan and Mary Barry of the Ramble Inn, Ballinhassig.

    There are vintage tractors and lorries, original cast iron famine pots, tractor seats, horse drawn potato diggers, ploughs and thistle toppers, a 1947 flat bed truck, old railway signs, enamel advertising signs, an antique brass cash register and all sorts of agricultural memorabilia.

    A Victorian antique cash register at Marshs. UPDATE: THIS MADE 200 AT HAMMER

    This is an auction that will excite considerable interest, particularly at a time when the market for collectible memorabilia is so strong.  The same cannot be said for the furniture market, but two lots in this auction will excite the interest of serious collectors of contemporary furniture.  They are two early furniture pieces by the Riverstick based maker Joseph Walsh whose stellar reputation is now global. A Canadian cherrywood three part wall cabinet stamped December 1999 and a hand crafted cherrywood TV cabinet will be sold separately.  Viewing gets underway in Ballinhassig on August 26 at 10.30 am.

    The German Ambassador’s 1937 Mercedes 170V Cabriolet B Saloon, restored in 1988/99, will not be the only scene stealer at Marshs.  Titanic survivor Florence Angle’s c1900 tourmaline and half pearl brooch and the sandstone heart shaped pendant she cherished will bring international attention to the sale at Lynes and Lynes there is much here to excite the attention of avid auction watchers.

    A horse drawn potato digger at Marshs. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 100

    THE MERCEDES USED BY HITLER’S AMBASSADOR TO IRELAND

    Saturday, August 15th, 2026

    This 1937 Mercedes Benz was the car used by Hitler’s ambassador to Ireland. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 13,200 AT HAMMER

    The 1937 Mercedes 170V Cabriolet B saloon at Marshs sale in Cork on August 29 was registered to the German Ambassador to Ireland during World War II, Dr. Eduard Hempel.  Vintage cars like this one are always highly sought after and its significant  history should add considerable value.

    The Mercedes – refurbished in 1988/89 and in storage since – will form part of a sale of vintage tractors, lorries, farm machinery and railwayana by Marshs at the Ramble Inn, Ballinhassig, Co. Cork on behalf of Alan and Mary Barry, who are retiring.

    Appointed to Dublin by Adolf Hitler in 1937 the career diplomat was pressured to join the Nazi Party in 1938 and remained ambassador until 1945.  Formal diplomatic accreditation was maintained during the Second World War because of Irish neutrality. The German legation at 58 Northumberland Road in Dublin was a hub for intelligence gathering and communication, though its effectiveness was limited by strict surveillance by Irish counter intelligence. 

    It was to Dr. Hempel’s home at Sloperton Road in Dun Laoghaire that Eamon de Valera famously called to express the condolences of the Irish Free State on the death of Hitler in 1945.

    After the war Dr. Hempel and his family were granted asylum and remained here until 1950.  They then returned to Germany where the former ambassador to Ireland helped set up the diplomatic service for the new Federal Republic.  

    Seen from the front.