Ireland

An original 1916 Proclamation sells for £117,000 at auction

The copy of the Proclamation sold for €150,000 (£117,000)
The copy of the Proclamation sold for €150,000 (£117,000) The copy of the Proclamation sold for €150,000 (£117,000)

AN original copy of the 1916 Proclamation, reputed to have hung in the GPO in Dublin during the Easter Rising a century ago, has sold for €150,000 at an auction in Dublin.

It was sold to a private Irish collector at a sale of over 600 artefacts, many from 1916. The auctioneers said the copy of the Proclamation has guaranteed provenance to Dr James Ryan, medical officer to the GPO garrison.

Other items up for sale were a bundle of four old keys to the GPO believed to have been found in the ruins of the building and what's believed to be the original flag of truce from Moore Street.

The GPO on O’Connell Street was the headquarters of the Rising's leaders. After the building was taken by rebel forces, Padraig Pearse, the Rising's commander-in-chief, read the proclamation from the front of the building.

Part of the Easter Rising centenary commemorations included a parade in Dublin last month, when the Proclamation was read out by an officer from the Irish defence forces in a re-enactment of the declaration of independence the rebels made at the GPO.