THE PLANNED auction today of an Office of Public Works file about Queen Victoria’s visit to Ireland in 1900 has been blocked by the State.
Fine art auctioneers Whyte’s was due to sell the item in its sale of historical collectibles in Dublin this afternoon on behalf of “an Irishman living in the United States”. It had been estimated to sell for between €400 and €600.
But, in a case of “we are not amused”, the lot has been withdrawn following an intervention by the OPW – a unit of the Department of Finance headed by Minister of State Brian Hayes.
The OPW is understood to have claimed that the file may have been removed illegally from its offices some time after independence in 1922 and would, therefore, be regarded as State property.
The contents of the file were published for the first time in The Irish Timesthis week. Some 200 previously unseen letters, memos and telegrams, generated by staff in the OPW, Dublin Castle (the headquarters of the British administration in Ireland) and the Kingstown (Dún Laoghaire) Harbour Commissioners, shed new light on the preparations for the royal visit.
Yesterday a senior official from the OPW contacted the auctioneering firm and said he was “of the opinion that the files were in the system after 1922”.
Auctioneer Ian Whyte immediately agreed to withdraw the file from the sale and the matter will be investigated by the OPW. Mr Whyte believed the file had been “removed during the period of British rule”, possibly during the disturbances of 1916 or the War of Independence.
Two other files from the same vendor have also been withdrawn from today’s auction, at the OPW’s request, and their ownership is also to be investigated.
Both date from the 19th century and are marked “Board of Works” (the original name for the OPW and established under British rule in 1831). One, dated 1868, concerns the “Visit of the Prince of Wales to Dublin and his installation as a Knight of St Patrick” (estimate €200-€400) and the second, dated 1869, dealing with “the tenure and building works of Green Street Dublin Metropolitan Police Barracks and Sheriff’s Prison” (estimate €200-€300).
Mr Whyte was last night trying to contact the vendor in the US.
