Proclamation print sells for almost €14,500

 

An extremely rare copy of the Irish Proclamation, printed in 1917 on the one-year anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising, one of only three known to exist, had sold for just short of €15,000.

Printed by Cumann na mBan some 12 months after the original signing using the same set of printing blocks as the original, the lot was listed with an estimate of between €10-20,000 at the recent Irish Connections Collectors Sale at Victor Mee Auctions’ in Cloverhill.

Taken down by a member of the Dublin Metropolitan Police at Butt Bridge in Central Dublin on orders of the High Sheriff of Dublin to avoid political unrest back in 1917, the story goes that he gave the poster to Robert Bradley, a retired Sheriff of Dublin. The piece was then passed on to the McKay family – friends of Robert Bradley – who safely kept it for over six decades, handing it down to the current owner who framed it only to preserve the artefact when signs of deterioration began to appear.

The print was sold to a private client in Northern Ireland.