Michael Collins letter auction

A letter writen by Michael Collins to Thomas Ashe is expected to fetch around €50,000 at an auction tonight.
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The letter is accompanied by a unique portrait of Thomas Ashe, by the renowned painter Leo Whelan.
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Thomas Ashe was the Kerry 1916 Rising leader who later died on hunger strike, whilst being force fed by the British colonial authorities in Ireland at the time.
The correspondence, written over 9o years ago in April 1917, contains, in code, Collins’ view of political affairs at the time.
Collins writes in code remarks about de Valera and Arthur Griffith as Collins went about strengthening his own political base and rebuilding the Irish Republican Brotherhood following his release from internment a few months earlier.
Master
At one point, Collins writes that "the new master is going strongly for the highest salary" -- a reference to de Valera's well-known ambitions.
It is the first written indication of what would become an intense rivalry between Michael Collins and Eamon de Valera, ultimately splitting the nation.

They will go under the hammer at Whyte’s auction house at 6pm.
Other items in the sale include a correspondence from Collins and Liam Mellowes, an autograph book from Frongoch camp containing watercolour views of the prison camp and a manuscript poem, by Collins and a group of medals awarded to Irish Volunteer Daniel Tynan (1895-1974).
Drawings by Countess Markievicz, a poster relating to the “Invincibles” and the Phoenix Park assassinations in 1882, a 1922 Civil War Proclamation and a 1922 first edition of James Joyce’s 'Ulysses' will also be sold.
The auction starts at 6pm on Monday, November 26, at the RDS.

Previous auctions of Irish historical interest
In Feb 2003, A letter written by IRA leader Michael Collins was sold for £14,000 at an auction in Dublin. The letter, written months before he was killed in 1922, details his opposition to the partition of Ireland.
Beforehand, it had been predicted the letter would fetch £5,000 but ended up being sold for six times more than any of his previous letters that were auctioned.
Collins sent the three-page document to a leading Derry republican, Louis J Walsh. In it, Collins outlined his opposition to the partition of Ireland and the formation of the north of Ireland as a separate state within the United Kingdom.

'Unreasonable stance'
It was written after he returned to Dublin from a meeting in London with Churchill and unionist leader James Craig.
He said Craig's stance on partition was seen as "an unreasonable one and not ours. All the British statesmen are agreed that it was most disastrous on Craig's part to talk about agreeing to nothing less than the six county area," he wrote.
"It would be far better to fix our minds for a time on a united Ireland, for this course will not leave minorities which would be impossible to govern."

Auctioneer Peter Sheen said the item was very important.
"So far as Michael Collins' correspondence is concerned virtually nothing survived. All that survived are his love letters and a few brief snippets, but there is very little in terms of political correspondence."

The letter spent decades in the Walsh family but was sold by a private collector who purchased it a number of years ago.

Irish war of independance film collection
In June 2000, Rare film footage of the 1916 Easter Rising and other historic Irish events was sold in for IR£95,000 at an auction in Dublin. The archive was compiled by a private collector whose heir decided to sell the material..

The newsreel, which was taken by a freelance cameraman, captures the violent battle between Irish freedom fighters and the British colonial army in the centre of Dublin that left nearly 500 people dead.
It also records the damage done to the city during the abortive rebellion.
The film went under the hammer at Dublin's Whyte's auctioneers, along with largely unseen footage from several other key events during the bloody struggle for Irish independence and the civil war that followed the establishment of the Irish Free State.
These include the aftermath of the first Bloody Sunday in 1920, when the pro-British militia known as the Black and Tans opened fire on civillian fans at a Gaelic football match in Croke Park.
They killed 11 fans and the captain of the Tipperary team in cynical brutal revenge for the IRA's murder of 14 British spies.
The IRA's capture of Dublin's Customs House in 1921 and the burning of towns and villages in the conflict are also featured.
Some of the footage is of the 1922 Irish elections, including film of Michael Collins, who became a legend in his own time as the leader of a deadly campaign of infiltration and assassination against the Colonial British.
He then led the pro-Treaty forces in the Irish Civil War.
Footage shows the siege and shelling of Dublin's Four Courts, which were held by forces fiercely opposed to the Treaty with the 1921 British Government, dividing Ireland.
Collins is also pictured alongside colleague Arthur Griffith at a wedding, shortly before the two men died in August 1922.
There is also footage of Collins' funeral.

A second set of newsreels, which have all been provided by a private collector, shows the first east-west transatlantic flight from Baldonnel, County Dublin, to Greenly Island, Canada, in 1928 in which Irish Air Corps Colonel James Fitzmaurice took part.
Irelands 1916 History For Sale
Irish national museum obtains Patrick Pearse letter
James Joyce letter makes £240,800

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Michael Collins letter auction