Every now and again, a collection built up over a lifetime comes up for sale at auction. Such is the case at the current auction of Mullens in Laurel Park, Co Wicklow. The so-called Collector’s Cabinet online auction – which begins to close on Saturday, June 21st, from 2pm – has an intriguing collection of toys, coins, banknotes and GAA programmes.
The groups of tin soldiers are one of the more interesting items in the sale, part of the estate of the original collector.
“This collection features depictions of soldiers in redcoats from the Boer War period, through World War tommies and later,” says John McGeever, owner of Needful Things antiques shop on Aungier Street, Dublin. Irish soldiers in the Band of the Southern Command from Collin’s Barracks in Cork (later known as the Band of 1 Southern Brigade) are also included.
McGeever, who assisted Mullens with the catalogue, says that while toy soldiers were traditionally manufactured as playthings, those kept in good condition also became collector’s items. Companies such as Britains in England and Del Prado (later known as History Works), also catered specifically for collectors, with the latter producing a magazine encouraging collectors to build up sets of, say Napoleonic Cavalry or second World War infantry. “This collection contains a wonderful range of these types of toys,” says McGeever.
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The auction also has more contemporary pieces, such as Marvel DC comics figures or Game of Thrones figures. Figures from Star Wars and the Beatles in their various phases are also included in the sale.
McGeever says some purchasers of toy soldiers are happy just to have a few for display purposes. More serious collectors collect soldiers from a particular period, and may even show them in dioramas representative of actual battles, often accompanied by vehicles and buildings.
The auction also has a collection of Irish banknotes, including the Ploughman notes. These banknotes – so-called because they had an image of a man ploughing a field – were first issued in 1929 by the Currency Commission of Ireland as a transitional measure for eight Irish banks, so that the banks withdrew their previously individualised or general-issue banknotes.
The last issues of these so-called consolidated bank notes (such as the Ploughman notes) were in 1941, and the notes were withdrawn from circulation on December 31st, 1953. A Currency Commission Ploughman £10 note, issued by the National Bank and dated May 6th, 1929, is among the lots for sale (€2,000-€2,500).
The Central Bank Act 1942 established the Central Bank of Ireland, which replaced the Currency Commission. The Central Bank then authorised legal tender notes as the only banknotes issued in Ireland. Viewing of all items in the Mullens auction will be in their showrooms at Laurel Park, Woodbrook, Bray, on Thursday and Friday, June 19th and 20th, 10am-4pm, and on Saturday, June 21st, 10am-2pm.
Finally, deVeres’ summer online auction has plenty of potential bargains for new collectors of contemporary Irish art. The auction features the remainder of the paintings by modernist Irish artists collected by Alan Conroy, the former postman who amassed an incredible amount of paintings in his modest home in Dublin. A sale of his collection was held by deVeres last month.
The auction also includes a smattering of modernist furniture and fittings – side cabinets, chairs, tables, lights and so on. The online auction closes on June 23rd.
mullenslaurelpark.com, deveres.ie
