A letter written by Irish revolutionary hero Michael Collins was sold at auction in Dublin tonight for a total of more than euro 28,000 after commission, around three times more than the pre-sale estimate.
The political missive - written after the controversial signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty more than 80 years' ago -was bought by a private collector after bidding that went on for just two minutes.
Ahead of the sale, it had been thought the letter would be picked up for around euro 8,000.
But interest in the item proved huge, according to auction cataloguer Peter Sheen. And it ended up being sold for a sum around six times higher than any other previous Collins letter that has become available.
Collins sent the three-page document to prominent Derry republican Louis J Walsh in 1922, telling him about his opposition to the Northern Ireland border.
Replying to a letter from Walsh, Collins outlined his position regarding negotiations with Winston Churchill and unionist leader James Craig.
It was written after he returned to Dublin from a meeting in London with Churchill and Craig.
Collins stated in the letter that 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.
He expressed his belief that ties would increase between leaders in the north and south, leading to a united Ireland in the long term.
He told Walsh that he was "no lover of partition, no matter what form it appears", and that any form of partition was "distasteful" to him.
"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," he wrote.
Collins also said he hoped that one day a multi-denominational party might be formed in the north east, developing links with the Free State and destabilising the northern administration.
Mr Sheen said the document was extremely important since political letters from Collins were few and far between.
"So far as Michael Collins' correspondence is concerned virtually nothing survived," Mr Sheen said.
"All that survived is 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 is now being sold by a private collector who purchased it a number of years ago.
"You can sense the urgency in the letter," Mr Sheen added. "It's very very meaty, there's no waffle. It's the most important individual piece of Michael Collins correspondence that has come to light."
PA