New memorabilia for Collins Centre

BY PAULINE MURPHY AND EMMA CONNOLLY

AN AUTOGRAPH book from 1921 with signatures of Treaty delegates including Michael Collins was bought at auction by the owner of the Michael Collins Centre museum near Clonakilty.

Tim Crowley bought what’s described as a comprehensive collection of autographs of the Irish delegation for his renowned centre.

He described it as being an ‘unbelievable book’ and ‘in excellent condition.’

‘We bought it for just under €5,000, including fees,’ he said. It was guiding between €4,000 and €6,000 at Whyte’s ‘eclectic collector’ auction in Dublin.

As well as Michael Collins, the book also includes the signatures of Arthur Griffith, Erskine Childers and more.

Meanwhile, the bible Michael Collins had with him on the day he died, which had an estimated selling price of €3,000, sold after heated bidding, for €12,500.

The bible was supplied to those working in the British public service during the 1900s, including a young Michael Collins who was employed as a post office clerk in London. The bible had a memorial card inserted into it. The card was for Catherine Collins, wife of Michael’s eldest brother Johnny. Catherine, better known as Katty, was a native of Drinagh. Her brother Sean Hurley was close friends with Michael Collins, and the pair worked in London as young civil servants and the duo came back to Ireland in 1916 to take part in the Easter Rising. Sean died fighting in Dublin during the week-long insurrection.

Collins was very fond of Katty and was devastated when she died from TB in 1921, aged just 38. He kept her memorial card in the bible he carried with him, right up until he died.

Another Collins item which fetched a large sum at Whyte’s Auction was a police index card from Dublin Castle which gave a detailed description of the most wanted man in Ireland.

Estimated to sell for €2,000, the hammer came down at a final price of €6,600. The very scarce item describes Collins, alone with a photograph, as having a ‘mouth large and drooping.’

Another item with a West Cork connection that sold at Whyte’s Auction was a medal awarded to a member of the RIC based in Ballydehob. The medal was estimated to sell for €300, and went for just over at €320.

It was awarded by the Royal Humane Society to RIC Constable Denis O’Sullivan in 1903, for saving the life of a boy. The boy, named only as Duggan, was found unconscious in 12ft of water in Ballydehob when Constable O’Sullivan swam 300 yards and brought him ashore.