A GOLD coin dating from 350 BC will be among the top lots at Whytes's sale of coins, banknotes, medals and items next Friday at its Marlborough Street premises in Dublin, writes Orna Mulcahy.
The Phillip II Macedon gold coin is estimated to fetch £1,200-£1,400. Other coins of note include an Oliver Cromwell half crown of 1658 (£700-£900); Hiberno Norse pennies, ranging in value from £120 to £2,500, depending on their condition and type; and a rare Richard III Dublin penny, estimated at £1,200-£1,400.
Over 900 items will be auctioned on the day, including collections of telephone cards, old postcards and cartoons and political pamphlets and Dosters.
Whytes have been running regular auctions in coins and medals for the last two years but, according to Peter Geoffrey, more and more buyers are turning up to buy postcards, documents and other items.
"There is more interesting in nostalgic and heritage items these days - historical documents, political bits and pieces, old photographs, even family photographs."
Of particular interest, he says, are old street scenes of Irish towns and cities, postcards that can be displayed in a montage. Many of these end up in Irish pubs and restaurants abroad.
It is hard to believe that someone could pay up to £600 for a telephone card but that is the top estimate on a 1989 50 unit card from Limerick, which is in mint condition. A 100 unit card - 1988 Dublin Plessey Trial, which will mean something to a specialist in this area, is valued at around £200.
Old postcards in the sale range in estimates from about £15 to £350. There are dozens of lots of townscapes, but the political cards have the highest estimates. A collection of anti Home Rule cards published between 1912 and 1914 is expected to sell for £300-£350, and it includes pictures of Ulster Volunteer Force parades and political cartoons.
Nazi propaganda cards, many with special postmarks, should sell for £40-£50 each, while a collection of portraits of Easter Rising leaders has the same estimate.
A set of photographs of Michael Collins taken in 1921, including pictures of him taking part in the Treaty negotiations, should fetch £250-£300.
A collection of handwritten inscriptions by Easter Rising prisoners, including several members of the Clare Brigade of the IRA, is estimated at £80-£100.
Elsewhere in the sale there are rare ordinance survey maps; old college medals, including a Trinity College gold medal for literature (£130-£150); a mass of banknotes, including a 1954 £100 note (the estimate of £250-£270 shows that it doesn't really pay to store these old notes away); Victorian Christmas decorations; and Japanese swords dating from the second World War.
Definitely worth a rummage.
Viewing is from Tuesday, 9.30 a.m.-5.30 p.m.
