A WALKING stick belonging to IRA leader Michael Collins has been sold at an East Belfast auction house for £52,000.
The silver tipped stick, which was reputedly owned by the Irish Republican leader and comes with a letter of provenance, went on sale at Bloomfield Auctions in East Belfast and was estimated to reach as much as £10,000 but interest in the item spread and the item eventually went to a private collector in the Republic of Ireland for £52,000 which Karl Bennett, Managing Director of Bloomfield Auctions, described as “phenomenal”.
On the success of the auction Mr Bennett said “We had the walking stick up for auction all across the world via our website, and saw interest from the United States, Europe and Britain and Ireland but we are delighted to see it go to someone in the South.”
Also on sale were a number of militaria and police items relating to Irish history including RIC Intelligence files on Michael Collins and Eamonn De Valera containing records of their movements and of De Valera’s acceptance of a meeting between Republicans and the British Prime Minister Lloyd George, paving the way for what would become the contentious Anglo-Irish Treaty. These files went to another collector for £6,800.
Other items also included an originally boxed 1916 Easter Rising medal which sold for £1,800 and also a gate from the H-Blocks in Long Kesh, which sold for £340.
