Woe is me...

HerrScheisse

I have being trying to get myself a piece of Irish history for already two years and have still not succeeded. Yes there were opportunities on EBay but I did not trust the items nor their provenance. I decided to bide my time and try get something certified and hopefully with documentation.

Today, Whytes auction had some nice Independance medals, and also a Lee Enfield used in the WoI. I was looking forward all week to this auction as the reserve and estimates were within my limits.

And as soon as the auction started...I was blasted out of the water before bidding even started. The interest was so high that the estimate was met by a factor of 5. And it seemed to be the same paddle number buying up all the best stuff.

It is depressing...very much so...I have items from many eras, some rare, some not so rare, but not one single solitary piece of Irish history

I give up...you need very deep pockets for Irish Independance items. Even an FCA medal from the emergency fetches crazy prices.

Morlar

Was at it too ! where were you sitting ?

Re Irish independence stuff - the guns went quite high, many medals did too. Every thing I was interested in went above what I was prepared to pay & I managed to stay sensible though and not get carried away

The prices weren't always that spectacular and once or twice I was the 2nd highest bidder - however I got the impression that whoever I was bidding against could just keep bidding up and up and up & so cut my losses.

I left an absentee bid on a later item when I had to leave and still waiting to hear if it was successful or not. Probably find out Monday as the site hasn't been updated yet. One or two items I had an eye on came out of the gate already well above estimate - never a good feeling after all that anticipation. It would be great if they could update their site with that information in advance of the sale if they already know there are reserve bidders who have pushed the price right up - if that info was on the site it might save people from making an unnecessary trip.

HerrScheisse

Hi Morlar,

I was not physically there, I was peering at the auction over a thousand kilometres away through the internet

It was the first time I watched the auction and I did enjoy it, except that I could not get any items I liked. I could see the online paddle numbers and the same paddle number kept buying up all the WoI stuff - money just did not seem to be an object, whoever it was just kept bidding, like an unstoppable and merciless bidding machine.

The White Star cups and saucers did shock me what they went for :eek:

Though I was clapping myself when the guy present did finally manage to get one without a saucer :pac:

And now I am still wondering how on earth I will ever be able to pick up womething from WoI - the prices are simply off the scale!

R.Dub.Fusilier

I would love to get some WOI related item. i have a couple of Connaught Rangers medals to men who were pre WW1 Irish Volunteers and a trio to an ex R.irish Regiment man who joined the irish army and i would asume fought in the civil war.

phaethon

Yeah, I was there too. Some stuff went very high (Irish and Titanic related:D). I was supprised how high some books went. Irish medals prices actually didn't supprised me - they are expencive and especoially in Whytes becaue it's one of the main irish collector's source of good items (so, all the main players were there).

However, I got what I wanted - some British awards (Irish related) went with reasonable price and I feeled some kind a "lazyness" by organisators - medal what I bought would sell much higher if they would get done the reachears and would point out the irish connection (actually owner was a Sligo man, who served 22 years in the army!!). I will post my item up when I am finished my research;)