A public auction will put Items of significant Irish historical interest up for sale.
Some of the most significant historical items ever to go under the hammer in this country are to be auctioned next month. The auction includes 450 lots dating from 1798 and the original words and music of the national anthem 'Amhrán na bhFiann' written by Peadar Kearney in 1907.
It became the national anthem in 1926.
'Amhrán na bhFiann' written by Peadar Kearney in 1907
Fonsie Mealy of Mealy’s Auctioneers insists that this is the original transcript of the national anthem.
For Stuart Cole of James Adams Auctioneers, the most significant items up for auction come from the Thomas Clarke Archive.
Thomas Clarke was one of the main architects of 1916 and he provides a bridge between the Fenian movement of the nineteenth century and the independence movement of the twentieth century.
Other items to go on sale include collections of Padraig Pearse’s poetry, a copy of the Proclamation and the tri-colour believed to have flown over the GPO on Dublin’s O’Connell Street during Easter Week 1916.
Also up for auction are Michael Collins’s typewriter and an essay written by him when he was 14 years of age. There is also a telegram from the Duke of Devonshire telling the Irish leader William T Cosgrave that the King had agreed to independence.
As yet, there is no indication if the Irish State will purchase some of the memorabilia.
The auction which takes place during Easter week coincides with the ninetieth anniversary of The 1916 Rising.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 21 March 2006. The reporter is Joe O’Brien.
