gerardkenny

Forgot to mention I believe there was also a 'Lot 241a' which was not in the calalogue, I believe it was a War of Independence with Comrac and a 1916 - can't remember for sure. When Whytes upload the prices I am sure it will be in the list.

From what I recall Lot 241 went quite high, something in the €6-7K region. If I recall correctly the auctioneer said she was a hardline republican who refused her pension and medals etc from the Free State, the medals were later claimed by her surviving family.

Thanks for that.

I thouht this may be of interest to some here;

The new Whytes April 2011 Auction catalogue has just been released :

HISTORY, LITERATURE

& COLLECTIBLES

Saturday 16 April 2011 at 1pm

Historical manuscripts, documents, photographs and ephemera

(Lots 1-392) 6

Literature, Drama & Music (Lots 393-436) 75

Sporting Memorabilia (Lots 437-467) 80

Coins (Lots 468-522) 84

Banknotes (Lots 523-628) 89

Bid Form 100

http://www.whytes.com/AuctionPDFs/20110416.pdf

There is also an online catalogue :

http://whytes.com/i7.asp?Auction=20110416&Lot=1

The whytes auctioneers site has crashed a couple of times in the last 24 hours so the link may have issues from time to time.

Personally I think the highlights would include :

41

1803. Robert Emmet’s Proclamation

One of the rarest Irish revolutionary documents extant.

“The Provisional Government

TO THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND”

letterpress, framed

53 by 44cm., 21 by 17.5in.

Provenance:

The Wolfe family, Forenaughts House, Co. Kildare, since 1803;

The Estate of Miss Maud Wolfe, Forenaughts House;

Sale by auction of the contents of Forenaughts House, Hamilton & Hamilton, 23

September 1980, whence acquired by the present owner.

Theobald Wolfe of Forenaughts House was the godfather of Theobald Wolfe Tone,

the son of Peter Tone, a coach builder who married a companion of Wolfe’s wife. It

is interesting that the Wolfe family should have retained this seditious document,

given that Arthur Wolfe, the first Baron Kilwarden, and first cousin of Theobald

Wolfe, was, along with his nephew, killed by rebels during the insuurection of 1803.

(see lot 40 in this sale).

The last member of the Wolfe family to live at Forenaughts, was Emily Maud Wolfe,

the daughter of Cumann na nGaedhal TD George Wolfe and proudly counted

amongst her ancestors Theobald Wolfe Tone and the famous General James Wolfe

who was killed during the Seven Year’s War. Up until her death on the 28th of April

1980 she regularly attended the Bodenstown commemorations

Robert Emmet was born in Dublin in 1778. After attending Whyte’s Academy, in

the company of Thomas Moore, Arthur Wellesley (later the Duke of Wellington) and

Richard Brinsley Sheridan, , he entered Trinity College, Dublin in October 1793 and

became involved in political activism. He was elected secretary to the secret United

Irish Committee in the college, and was expelled in April 1798 as a result and fled

to France to avoid the many arrests that were taking place in Ireland after the

1798 Rebellion. After his return to Ireland Emmet began to prepare for rebellion

with fellow revolutionaries Thomas Russell and James Hope. Unlike in 1798, the

preparations for the uprising were successfully concealed, but a premature

explosion at one of Emmet’s arms depots killed a man and forced Emmet to bring

forward the date of the rising before the authorities’ suspicions were aroused. As

part of the preparations Emmet wrote this proclamation addressing it from “The

Provisional Government to The People of Ireland”. It began by reiterating republican

sentiments expressed during the previous rebellion and calling on the Irish

population to claim their right to independence “You are now called on to show to

the world that you are competent to take your place among nations, that you have

a right to claim their recognisance of you, as an independent country ... We

therefore solemnly declare, that our object is to establish a free and independent

republic in Ireland: that the pursuit of this object we will relinquish only with our

lives ... We war against no religious sect ... We war against English dominion.” The

Proclamation not only served as a call to arms but also as an interim constitution

and is remarkably forward thinking in terms of constitutional law.

The lines “we will not imitate you in cruelty; we will put no man to death in cold

blood, the prisoners which first fall into our hands shall be treated with the

respect” predates the first Geneva Convention by 60 years, which is considered

today as the basis on which rest the rules of international law for the protection of

the victims of armed conflicts on the treatment of prisoners of war. Seán Ó

Brádaigh, in his 2003 book recording the life of Emmet, Bold Robert Emmet, put

forward his argument that the proclamation contains ‘a moral framework’ for

those ‘unfortunate but sometimes necessary events in human life’.

.

Shortly after the rebellion began it disintegrated into little more than a riot, in

stark contrast to the beliefs and ideals that Emmet displayed in the proclamation.

Emmet was unable to secure the help of rebels from Wicklow under the command

of United Irishmen leader Michael Dwyer and many rebels from Kildare who had

arrived to help, turned back due to the lack of firearms they had been promised.

Nonetheless the rising went ahead in Dublin on the evening of 23 July 1803.

Failing to seize Dublin Castle, which was lightly defended, the rising amounted to a

large-scale riot in the Thomas Street area. Emmet personally witnessed a dragoon

being pulled from his horse and piked to death, the sight of which prompted him

to call off the rising to avoid further bloodshed. However he had lost all control of

his followers and in one incident, the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, Lord Kilwarden

(see lot 40), reviled as chief prosecutor of William Orr in 1797, but also the judge

who granted habeas corpus to Wolfe Tone in 1798, was dragged from his carriage

and hacked to death. Sporadic clashes continued into the night until finally quelled

by the military at the estimated cost of twenty soldiers and fifty rebels dead. After

being captured Emmet was put on trial and made no attempt to defend himself

however he requested that his Proclamation of the Provisional Government be read

out in open court as it reflected his beliefs, morals and aspirations. It expressed his

views on the rebellion, and emphasised his humanitarian concerns about the

treatment of prisoners and the conduct of the republican government. The

proclamation however was one which the British authorities had no intention of

giving any publicity to and Emmet’s request to have it read was rejected by the

court. However Emmet did manage to integrate direct quotations and paraphrased

parts of his proclamation into his famous speech from the dock. He detailed the

actions of the past eight months, the attempt to wrest power from England ‘with

their own hands’, the point that foreign assistance was not ‘the foundation of the

present exertion’ and referred to Ireland taking its place among the nations of the

earth. Emmet was found guilty of treason and was hung, drawn and quartered –

one of the last convicts to suffer this barbaric execution - on 20 September 1803

in Thomas Street, Dublin.

Due to the destruction and suppression of the proclamation it never fully received

the status and acknowledgment as the hugely important historical document that

it is. It provided inspiration for Pádraig Pearse in writing the 1916 Proclamation

and summed up Emmet’s remarkable opinions, some of which could be described as

too modern to be accepted or understood in 1803.

Approximately 10,000 copies of the proclamation are reputed to have been secretly

printed on Emmet’s orders on 23 July 1803, but the British authorities went to

great efforts in order to ensure that its content was suppressed and they were

nearly all destroyed. It is hard to believe that so many were printed clandestinely,

and it is far more likely, as in the case of the 1916 Proclamation, that the numbers

printed were in the hundreds. As far as we have been able to ascertain there are

three examples in private hands, of which the present example is one. About 500

copies of the 1916 Proclamation were printed, of which some fifty survive, mainly

in public collections. We can find no record of an example of the 1803

Proclamation in either the National Library of Ireland, The National Museum of

Ireland or Trinity College Library. As the penalty for possession of the 1803

Proclamation was very harsh, and could even, in certain circumstances, lead to the

gallows, there were few prepared to keep it, which has made it one of the rarest, if

not the rarest important printed document of Irish revolutionary history.

€30,000-€50,000 (£26,100-£43,500 approx.)

& Also :

296

1921: An extremely rare low numbered Thompson Submachine

Gun, No. 142, donated to the Cork Brigade, IRA in 1921 by an

Irish American Sheriff

Provenance:

Purchased by Michael Sheehan, San Mateo, California, May 1921;

Thence to Cork Brigade IRA;

Thence by descent from a War of Independence IRA Volunteer to the present owner,

Co. Cork

Early 1921 model Thompson submachine gun, one of a small number imported and

used by the IRA during the War of Independence. The receiver is marked “Model

1921” with the serial number “142”, Thompson markings and five line patent dates,

along with inspector’s mark directly behind the ejection port. With the rare and

desirable early style of finned barrel (to aid in cooling when fired in a fullautomatic

mode), the adjustable Lyman tangent rear sight with sight protectors

that graduates from 100 to 600 yards, walnut vertical foregrip and detachable

walnut buttstock.

The Thompson Gun began production with serial number 1; the first 40 were all

prototypes, making number 41 the first gun to be sold. The serial number of this

particular gun is 142, the one hundred and second Thompson Gun to be sold and is

very rare with such a low three digit serial number. It is estimated that somewhere

in the region of 15,000 sets of the 1921 model parts were produced, with the

majority of those being used to produce the later M1928A1 model of the weapon

making this complete 1921 model extremely scarce.

Colt records show that this gun, numbered “142” along with serial number “143”

were dispatched by the Colt Company to a Mr M. Sheehan of San Mateo, California.

Sheehan was in fact Sheriff Michael Sheehan, a prominent sheriff based in the San

Mateo district of San Francisco. Sheehan was born in Mountcollins, County Limerick

on 2 February 1861, had emigrated to the United States with his brother in the

1880s and became Sheriff of San Mateo in 1916. He was a member of numerous

Catholic organisations including the Knights of Columbus and lived for some time

in Tilman Street which was only three blocks from the address the guns were

delivered to, at 316 B Street, which was a US Post Office in 1921. The San Mateo

sheriff’s office never ordered Thompson Guns during the 1920s so there is no

possibility that the weapons were for official use.

In many ways the new gun was considered to be ideal for guerrilla warfare with its

rapid fire of high calibre bullets and a removable stock: it packed a powerful punch

whilst also being easy to conceal. The IRA was destined to become one of the first

customers for the new machine-gun, after Michael Collins was contacted by the

financier Thomas Fortune Ryan. With a high price of $225 per gun the IRA placed

an order for 653 weapons, becoming Colt’s only customers at this time. The guns

were to be sent to Ireland in May 1921 through New York but US Customs

impounded 495 of them leaving only 158 which were eventually smuggled to

Ireland. The first three arrived in Dublin in May 1921 and were test fired a few days

later by Tom Barry at a meeting attended by Michael Collins and Richard Mulcahy.

The IRA were also the first in the world to use the machine-gun in combat, when a

group led by Oscar Traynor, used one in an ambush against members of the Royal

West Kent Regiment near Drumcondra, County Dublin.

The Thompson or “Tommy Gun” later went onto achieve world fame when it was

used by both law enforcement and criminal gangs during the era of prohibition in

the United States making it one of the most iconic weapons ever produced.

It is not clear exactly how the gun was brought into Ireland but it is known that

Sheriff Sheehan did make trips during this period to Ireland returning to San

Francisco from Queenstown (Cobh) Co. Cork via New York. We also know that his

nephew was arrested and interned. He later was imprisoned in Limerick during the

Civil War, after which he emigrated to the USA via Canada to join his uncle in San

Mateo. He was a member of the Cork Brigade IRA during the War of Independence.

€10,000-€15,000 (£8,700-£13,100 approx.)

That's a very interesting album. Thanks for posting those.

Timo that female picture is very interesting. Thanks for sharing that.

Just seeing this thread now, & that is a very interesting card. Here is a very small addition ot the thread. His father Alderman Peadar S Doyle was a friend of Vincent Byrne (Comdt. Vincent Byrne II Bn, Dublin Brigade, Old IRA - of Michael Collins' Squad) here are a couple of christmas cards from him to V.Byrne.

Those pictures do seem to seal it - cheers.

Thanks, i am on mobile now & cant see the pic but will check that pic tomorrow.

Hmm well 2 votes is the majority !

I am looking at it very closely and the DRL seems like it might match the top part with a gap between the tops of the DRL letters - but not sure about the bottom part of the medal as it appears not to have the lower part letters in place if you know what I mean.

Also not sure about the 2 different colour metals in that light outside dark inside combo - but again this could be the fold in the tunic and the light. Thanks for checking and for those verdicts - much appreciated. When I get a macro lens I will post back with an improved picture. Cheers.

Deutsches Reichssportabzeichen

DRL

.

I am not sure - this one appears to be of 2 different coloured metals, though that could be a trick of the light. I think the 2 metal DRL one would be brigter inside (for the gold) and darker outside unless I am mistaken.

It looks the approximate size and roughly oval shape of the DRL and it may fit the man in the picture but I am not convinced.

The image is too blurry for me to make out... can you blow up the section a bit?

Hi - no unfortunately not this is already quite heavily cropped. I could increase the size but it would be software interpolated and just 'bigger blur' if you know what I mean. I am on the lookout for a decent macro lens but for now this is as good as I can get it.

Here for reference is the original view :

I am wondering if anyone can help to identify this medal - worn by a polizei man in this picture taken in Latvia Sept 1943

The ribbon bar appears to contain a KVK with swords - along with possibly polizei service, then a wound badge in black and beneath that a medal I can not place. It has been suggested a German Colonial Medal but after looking I can not seem to find a match to it.

The image url may be bigger :

That's very interesting, never seen one of those before.

I'd be interested to hear what others make of the provenance on some of these items. Such as Padraíg Pearse's belt buckle (Lot 164) ;

1916. Pádraig Pearse’s Irish Volunteer belt buckle – a unique

and rare memento of the leader of the 1916 Rising

Provenance:

Emmet Humphreys, (1902-1977), Fianna Éireann (1909-1916), later Captain E

Company, 3rd Battalion, Dublin Brigade, IRA until 1923;

thence to the present owner’s father, a prominent Belfast republican.

A unique memento of the leader of the 1916 Rising, with impeccable provenance

of two well known republican families.

The Humphreys family were one of the great republican families with associations

with all the major events of the fight for Irish freedom in the early part of the

20th Century. Emmet and his brother Dick attended Pádraig Pearse’s school, St.

Enda’s, and aged 7, Emmet was one of the first members of Fianna Éireann, the

republican paramilitary scouting organisation at its foundation in 1909, and

participated in the 1916 Rising. Along with the rest of his family, including the

redoubtable Sighle, Emmet was very involved in the War of Independence and on

the Anti-Treaty side in the Civil War, and was imprisoned during both conflicts. The

family continued their support of republican causes right into the 1970s and

through that association befriended the father of the present owner of this historic

relic.

€8,000-€10,000 (£7,000-£8,800 approx.)

Price Realised: €7500

, or Willie Pearse's tunic button (168) ;

1916. Willie Pearse - a button from his tunic

Provenance:

Emmet Humphreys, (1902-1977), Fianna Éireann (1909-1916),later Captain E

Company, 3rd Battalion, Dublin Brigade, IRA until 1923;

thence to the present owner’s father, a prominent Belfast republican.

A unique memento from Pádraig Pearse’s brother Willie.

William Pearse followed his father into sculpture and studied at the Metropolitan

School of Art in Dublin under Oliver Sheppard as well as in Paris, and in the

Kensington School of Art. Some of his sculptures are to be found in Limerick

Cathedral, the Cathedral of St. Eunan and St Columba, Letterkenny and several

Dublin churches. He worked for a while in the family monumental stone masonry

business but left to help his brother Patrick run St. Enda’s School

He followed his brother into the Irish Volunteers and the Republican movement,

took part in the Easter Rising in 1916, constantly staying by his brother’s side at

the General Post Office. Following the surrender he was court-martialed and

sentenced to death, which is now thought to be due to the court’s assumption of a

much greater role for Willie than he had, and Willie did nothing to dissuade the

military prosecution from their view of his importance. He was executed on 4 May

1916.

€2,000-€3,000 (£1,800-£2,600 approx.)

Price Realised: €1800

The prices for this auction are now uploaded

http://www.whytes.com/i7.asp?Auction=20101113&Lot=1

Just back from the Whytes auction in Dublin. The Fenian flag went for €52,000. Lot 183 the Irish Independence era/'Civil War photograph collection was withdrawn from sale before it began but all the other Rising /Independence era items seemed to be selling very well. Lots 153/4/5 the RIC Revolver and indian made Lee enfield (both apparently Irish Volunteer captured items) went quite well - if I recall correctly 3 x the reserve.

For anyone interested in Irish militaria (particularly Independence Era items) there is a major auction tomorrow Saturday November 13th 2010 at Whytes:

http://www.whytes.ie/

HISTORY, LITERATURE & COLLECTIBLES

Saturday 13 November 2010

Click for: Searchable on-line catalogue or Printable PDF

VIEWING: at our galleries, 10-12 November 10am-6pm and 13 November 9.30am-12 noon.

To register for Live Bidding click here.

For catalogue changes click here

For information on live bidding click here

TV3 News feature on History Auction

Irish Independent story Irish Times story

The catalogue is here in .PDF format and well worth checking out - the prices have nosedived compared to the dizzying heights of just a few years ago:

http://www.whytes.com/AuctionPDFs/20101113.pdf

Eirman it might be an idea to check out the current whytes prices & which items meet their reserve in this current market.

PS There is also the North Star fair tomorrow in Dublin.

Excellent - thanks for that.

Tasso

Kriegskamerad Tasso

After a quick look, all 3 medals certainly look genuine with nice patina. The 1916 medal also has the older and thiner top suspender bar but a rather tatty ribbon. I personally don't mind if ribbons are tatty as it adds a bit of personality and originality.

Pity the seller hasn't used the word 'Irish' in the item heading as it would attract more bidders who search for Irish Medals.

€8000......interesting starting price! too high maybe?

I think the seller may have heard you as it's now been reduced to €7,000.00

Here is another interesting set of 1916 medals on ebay with a starting bid of €8,000.00 to a man who apparently fought in Boland's mills. There is no mention of provenance with it other than 'name revealed to buyer'

http://cgi.ebay.ie/w...em=130427604950

The above collection of Medals are being Auctioned as a Job lot and will not be split, they were left to me by a deceased Grand Uncle who fought in the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin, all these Medals are genuine and NOT FAKES,

The collection consists of The 1916 Easter Rsing Medal, the Black and Tans 1922 Medal with a comrac Bar (combatant), and the 1939-47 Emergency Medal, My Grand Uncle took part in the Easter Rising in Bolands Mills, he took part in the Irish Civil war 1922 and later joined the Free State Forces.

The 1916 Easter Rising Medal is in superb Condition, likewise its Green and Orange ribbon and its clasp.

The 1922 Black and Tans Medal is also in superb condition, it has the Comrac (combatant bar on it) the Ribbon bears some age but is in very very good condition.

The Emergency Medal 1939-47 Medal also in excellent condition and has its clasp attratched.

None of the above Medals were ever polished or engraved, i will disclose to the winner, my Great uncles Name,,.

Good luck in the Bidding, Thank You.

Here are some amazing photos of the Russian empire 1909-1912. Here is the background to the collectiom :

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/08/russia_in_color_a_century_ago.html#photo14

Russia in color, a century ago

With images from southern and central Russia in the news lately due to extensive wildfires, I thought it would be interesting to look back in time with this extraordinary collection of color photographs taken between 1909 and 1912. In those years, photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944) undertook a photographic survey of the Russian Empire with the support of Tsar Nicholas II. He used a specialized camera to capture three black and white images in fairly quick succession, using red, green and blue filters, allowing them to later be recombined and projected with filtered lanterns to show near true color images. The high quality of the images, combined with the bright colors, make it difficult for viewers to believe that they are looking 100 years back in time - when these photographs were taken, neither the Russian Revolution nor World War I had yet begun. Collected here are a few of the hundreds of color images made available by the Library of Congress, which purchased the original glass plates back in 1948. [Editor's Note: I will be on vacation for a bit. Next entry will be published on 8/27] (34 photos total)

An Armenian woman in national costume poses for Prokudin-Gorskii on a hillside near Artvin (in present day Turkey), circa 1910

Emir Seyyid Mir Mohammed Alim Khan, the Emir of Bukhara

Alternators made in Budapest, Hungary, in the power generating hall of a hydroelectric station in Iolotan (Eloten), Turkmenistan, on the Murghab River, ca. 1910.

Hi Mervyn, I decided to pass on this, I had thought it was some kind of 'Royal Dublin Fusiliers' insignia I was not familiar with, or one they had altered to fit on the bugle or something like that but as it is a 'Royal Welsh Fusiliers' one it would be of less interest to me personally. Bugles would not be my thing (in case you had not noticed !) but the Royal Dublin Fusiliers aspect would have made it interesting for me.

Also the condition does not appear great at all compared to others I have seen available when I was looking into this online earlier. When I was looking online earlier I also saw a site about showing how easily the WWI ones were extensively faked and modified too. To be honest that post above was a bit of a rush post as I thought it was a golden bargain going for the asking ! Oh well maybe next time:)

P.S. the owner is looking for €70 or offers which seems quite high to me unless I am missing something.

http://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_08_2010/post-4276-128213090094.jpghttp://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_08_2010/post-4276-128213090094.jpg I think this is possibly the Royal Dublin Fusiliers insignia on a bugle - can anyone confirm ? - ** Sorry just realised it's the Royal Welsh Fusiliers.