War Horse, the title of a Steven Spielberg film and a West End musical based on the children's novel by Michael Morpurgo, reminded 21st-century audiences about one of the most poignant aspects of the first World War – the shipment of an estimated one million horses from Britain and Ireland to the Western Front.
Most of the horses died. A bleak memento has turned up at Fonsie Mealy Auctioneers, where a " very rare first World War leather horse mask, with steel grill protectors" goes under the hammer with an estimate of €900-€1,400.
The auction, a mix of antiques and collectibles, includes Ploughing, a watercolour by Rose Barton, the Anglo-Irish painter who died in 1929, estimated at €3,500- €5,000; and a 19th-century Gothic revival table, described as "possibly after a design by Pugin" being sold by an unnamed Dublin religious community (€3,500-€5,000). A rare cased concertina, by Butler of Haymarket, London, in original purple-lined case is €200-€300.
