International Farmall cub tractor with plough, circa 1946-1950, with instruction book is expected to fetch £600 to £900 at auction on June 8th.

Cast-iron seats from tractors and other farm machinery can be worth up to £1,000 (€1,270) and there is great interest in them in Ireland and internationally, according to an auctioneer.

Mr George Mealy of Mealy's auction rooms, Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny, says a forthcoming auction which includes implement seats, cast-iron name plates and some tractors has aroused international interest: "Honest to God, there's fierce interest in it. The implement and machine seats are the bigger attraction. There are approximately 200 different ones. It's a unique collection."

He is taken aback by the level of interest: "There's a fierce amount of interest in them here in Ireland. I mean where will you get a collection of 200 implement seats ever again? There's interest from America, Australia, everywhere. It's fanatics collecting them because it was nearly left too late when people spun to the idea. A single seat could make up to £1,000."

There was so much experimentation with farm machinery that there might have been only 10 or 11 units of some machines made, which didn't work, were scrapped and so are rare. Less rare seats can be worth as little as £50, he says.

So which ones in the forthcoming auction are worth up to £1,000? "To give you a straight answer, nobody knows that - only the real keen collectors. It depends on what's in the collections around the world," he says, explaining why there are no estimates on the implement seats in the catalogue.

"Only the fanatics who collect them will know which ones are rare - the fanatical buyers that are going to be interested in buying them," he says.

So he couldn't tell in advance of the auction which ones are the most valuable? "No. We'd love to know that ourselves. That's why we left the estimates open on them. There's no reserve on them. The owners want them sold. And they would rather not put estimates on them either because it's only a stab in the dark.

"While you would probably pick up tractor seats at car boot sales, after this sale now they'll probably go mad. They'll all know what they're worth."

The late Robert and Catherine Kennedy - granddaughter of Lady Gregory - amassed the single collection of agricultural implement seats, vintage tractors and machinery from old farmyards and suchlike over 40 or 50 years.

"Even trying to paint the seats was a mammoth task. Every one of them, nearly, is highlighted. The writing is one colour and the seat is another colour. Can you imagine sitting in at night and trying to do that?"

So there are people out there who collect tractor seats? "Absolutely. And tractors. There's one of the tractors in the auction and they reckon there was only three of them brought into the British Isles," he says. That's lot number 1075, an international WK 40 tractor, six cylinder, 40 horse power, steel wheels in front and rubbers behind, with tax book and instruction book. (Estimate: £3,000-£5,000.)

A 1917 Ford model F made in the US on steels, with instruction book is estimated at £5,000 to £8,000, while an international Farmall cub tractor with plough, circa 1946-1950, with instruction book is expected to fetch £600 to £900.

Just about any old tractor in good condition that looks intact will be worth something and the paintwork doesn't really matter, he says.

The auction takes place on June 8th in Loughananna House, Kilbehenny, Mitchelstown, Co Cork.

A collection of Robert Gregory's paintings - Lady Gregory's father - will be auctioned on June 7th.

jmarms@irish-times.ie