Read more: Rare Fenian flag to fetch $70,000 at auction

A Fenian flag that was used at demonstrations during Ireland’s land war has been bought by an anonymous private collector in Ireland for $71,000.

According to RTE, the flag, dating from the 1860s, was once owned by Willie Condon, a well-known league campaigner. It survived the Civil War by being hidden in a flour sack.

It was used at meetings of the Land League and the Fenians. It contians the famialr suburst, the Irish harp and the words ‘God Save Ireland’.

The owner said his  grandmother Hannah Condon Cleary, a commander with Cumann na mBan, the female IRA had kept the flag “hidden at the time of the (Black and) Tans” during the War of Independence by wrapping it in a flour sack and burying it in a milk can. His father afterwards “found it and dug it up”.

The flag sold at an auction of Irish historical memorabilia and is the only one of its kind privately owned.

Pádraig Pearse's belt buckle and rifles once held by Irish volunteers were also sold at the auction.

Read more: Rare Fenian flag to fetch $70,000 at auction