The John T. Power Collection sold for 40,000.
Over a top estimate of 15,000 the John T. Power collection of All-Ireland Hurling Final medals won by Kilkenny in 1907, 1911 and 1913 sold for a hammer price of 40,000 at Fonsie Mealy’s rare book and collectors sale in Kilkenny today. GAA memorabilia proved a powerful draw as Clare’s first All-Ireland title medal for 1914 sold for 9,759. The medal had been estimated at 7,000-10,000. The match sliotar from the 1913 final sold for 2,100 over a top estimate of 1,000.
An All-Ireland medal from “the thunder and lightning” final of 1939, played on September 3 just four hours after the declaration of World War II, sold for 3,100 over an estimate of 1,500-2,000. In that game Kilkenny beat a Cork team captained by Jack Lynch, who was to go on to become Taoiseach. A collection of Irish Republican postcards made 2,800; a scarce Kilkenny printing of 33 engraved plates sold for 2,700, an 1875 edition of Notes of Irish Architecture by Edwin, Earl of Dunraven, sold for 2,300 and an early manuscript poem by James Stephens made 1,750. The sale realised a sum in excess of 220,000.
(See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for May 8 and May 15, 2015).
