A Dublin family is hoping for a windfall of at least €100,000 this Christmas following the discovery in the back of a cupboard in their home of one of the rarest documents relating to the foundation of the State - an original copy of the 1916 Proclamation of Independence of the Irish Republic.
The copy of the proclamation, now one of only 20 known to still exist, had remained tightly folded in an envelope in the cupboard since it was acquired by the father of the family, long deceased, in the 1930s.
The family was unaware of its rarity or value until they brought it in for valuation to Adams's auctioneers in Dublin earlier this year.
The copy is being sold at an auction next Wednesday at Adams's in Dublin, and is expected to fetch between €100,000 and €150,000.
The copy, authenticated by staff at the National Library, which has a copy itself, has all the typographic idiosyncrasies of an original copy, of which a maximum of 500 were printed. Most of them were destroyed during the rebellion.
However, with thousands having been reprinted in the early 1920s following independence, many people who believe they have an original are often disappointed, according to Adams's staff.
"We'd have maybe 10 people come in off the street every year thinking they have an original," said auctioneer Mr Stuart Cole.
An original copy can be identified by a series of features. The printer, Mr Christopher Brady, and his two compositors, produced the poster-sized document from an old press in Liberty Hall on poor quality poster paper.
Operating in secret and with limited resources, they ran out of the letter e in its original metal typeface, and had to use a gothic e.
They ran out of type entirely half way through and had to print it in two stages.
Originally 2,000 were to be printed but this was then limited to 1,000 because of a shortage of paper. Many of these were destroyed when Liberty Hall was raided by British troops. It is estimated that as few as 500 were actually printed and distributed around the city.
One copy was famously placed at the foot of Nelson's Pillar on Easter Monday morning as Pádraig Pearse, who wrote the declaration, read it aloud from the steps of the GPO.
With only 20 known to exist, three of which are owned by Irish State bodies - including copies in Leinster House and the National Museum - private sales happen only every five to 10 years. There has already been one sale this year, however. A copy, signed by the printer, Mr Christopher Brady, was sold for £100,000 sterling in August.
Most of the 201 lots at the auction are Irish paintings. A total of €2.5 million is expected to be raised. Forty of the pieces are being sold by the Jefferson Smurfit Plc collection.The most expensive lots are three oil paintings by Jack B. Yeats and a reclining nude by Irish post-Impressionist painter, Roderic O'Conor, all valued at between €200,000 and €300,000. One of the Yeats paintings, Nothing is Changed, is the most expensive with a value of between €280,000 and €300,000.
Mr James O'Halloran, an auctioneer with Adams's, said there had been considerable interest in the copy of the proclamation, both from private individuals and American academic institutions.
"It would appeal to people who might buy a Yeats, people who would have a very strong personal sense of their Irish identity," he said.