1916 Easter Rising flag fails to sell at New York auction

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CAHIR O'DOHERTY,

Irish Voice Reporter

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Ian Whyte, Director of Whyte's of Dublin, with the Easter 1916 flag that failed to sell at auction in New York

Photo by Nuala Purcell

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But as it turned out the flag failed to achieve its target sale price on the day and was withdrawn from auction.

That does not imply it will not sell within the next few days, however.  Bidders who chose to protect their privacy by making their bids by telephone or the internet expressed interest in the historic Irish flag, and representatives at the auction expressed some confidence that it could sell behind the scenes in a private bidding scenario within the next few days.

“In Ireland many people come to property auctions when a house is on the market without making a bidding at the event,” said Whyte. “That may well be the case here too.

“We have interest from a telephone bidder that could lead to a sale. Sometimes these kinds of discussions can lead to an even higher final sale figure.”

The auction is the first of what Bloomsbury hopes will become an annual Irish sale.

Protecting the identity of each bidder is an increasingly common feature of contemporary auctions in the city, so each participant made no secret of their strong interest in discovering who else was in the room. Heads turned to take in each new arrival.

Expensive looking men in striped shirts and bow ties took their seats in rows alongside women who looked like they might own entire city blocks of the Upper East Side.

Englishman Tom Lamb, who was formally the head of book sales at Christies in London for 26 years, curated the auction. Speaking before it commenced he told the Irish Voice, “I’ve always done themed sales in literature, travel, science, and so on, in most fields of book collecting. We plan to host an Irish themed auction annually from now on in the week just following St. Patrick’s Day.

“This is a rich man’s sale, you know. It’s not like we’re selling $100 items.  If you’re going to see in this present day market you have to sell quality to make it a success.   I don’t think there’s been another sale on the East Coast that’s solely devoted to Irish things on this scale, so we’re rather hoping this is going to be the beginning of our auction house’s annual affair with the Irish community.”

The auction included a treasure trove of Irish arts and artifacts such as a first edition of Mosada, Irish Nobel Prize winning poet W.B. Yeats’ first book, which was listed between $70,000 and $100,000.

Even within his own lifetime Yeats’ debut book was enthusiastically sought after, but on Tuesday morning it failed to reach its projected price range and was withdrawn from sale.

A five page, typed and signed manuscript article by President John F. Kennedy, written while he was briefly employed as a journalist, was also offered for sale.  Kennedy’s article, entitled “Eamon de Valera Seeks to Unite All Ireland” was estimated to fetch between $20,000 to $30,000, but it also was withdrawn from auction when it failed to achieve its target price range.

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