This baseball showcard attracted wide interest and a big price.
By Ray O’Hanlon
The auction was in County Cavan, not known as a stronghold of America’s national pastime.
But baseball, or an image of the game, prompted the biggest bid of the day at the recent auction run by family-owned Victor Mee Auctions.
The Irish Connections Collectors sale was held May 8 and 9 in Belturbet, County Cavan.
One of only three known surviving first-anniversary copies of the Irish Proclamation - printed in 1917 using the same printing blocks as the original - was one of the principal items on offer and it met expectations.
Lot 300, described as an “extremely rare Proclamation printed in 1917 on the one-year anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising” was estimated to fetch somewhere between €10,000 and €20,000. It went for €14,500 to a private client in Northern Ireland.
But it was an item that spoke of another place beyond Ireland that sprang the big surprise over the two days.
Lot 924 was an “Unusual framed E & J Burke Guinness Chicago and New York baseball advertising showcard.”
The estimate was for a selling price of €200 to €400.
It sold for €26,500!
Bids came in from all over the world over the two days.
So perhaps Iowa wasn’t out of the picture completely.
Here are some of the other sales result from the auction.
Lot 301: Rare 19th C. Royal Irish Constabulary station plaque. Est. €400 – 600. Sold for €1,250 to a private museum in Southern Ireland
Lot 340: 19th. C. Irish Killarney ware arbutus and marquetry inlaid yew wood davenport. Est. €4,000 – 6,000. Sold for €6,000.
Lot 341: 2nd. Period Belleek bust of Michael Collins. Est. €250 – 400. Sold for €480.
Lot 342: 2nd. Period Belleek bust of Arthur Griffith. Est. €250 – 400 Sold. Sold for €950.
Lot 1018: Extremely rare late 19th C. Gallaher's Gold Plate Cigarettes and Two Flakes Tobacco advertising mirror. Est. €4,000 – 6,000. Sold for €6,000.
Lot 1020: Extremely rare late 19th C. mahogany and mirrored Ogden’s Cigarettes dispensing cabinet. Est. €4,000 – 6,000. Sold for €5,300.
Lot 1021: Rare 1890's bottle of George Roe Irish whiskey. Est. €6,000 – 12,000. Sold for €5,000 to a “well-known and respected publican in Southern Ireland.”
