Kilmainham Gaol chairman wants 1916 relic returned

A relic of the 1916 Rising, expected to fetch more than €20,000 at auction in Britain next month, should be donated to Kilmainham Gaol Museum, the chairman of the museum has said.

The item, a finger-printing machine used to take prints from the leaders of the Rising in Kilmainham Gaol before their execution, is in private ownership and is due to be auctioned at Ludlow Racecourse in England on December 14th.

Chairman of the museum's board of trustees Damien Cassidy is calling on the owner, who is remaining anonymous, not to go ahead with the auction and to give the machine back. "This is an item of great historical importance and it should not be anywhere other than the museum," he said.

The printing machine is contained within a wooden box inscribed with the names of the 14 volunteers executed after the Rising. In the centre of the box is a 70mm calibre British shell engraved with a harp emblem. There is also a dedication to all those who were killed during the Rising.

The machine was given to Rev Fr Augustine for safekeeping after the War of Independence but later fell into private hands. It is being auctioned by Mullock Madeley auctioneers with a guide price of €20,000. A surrender letter handwritten by Pádraig Pearse at the time of the rising sold for €700,000 at auction in Dublin last May. It had a guide price of €50,000 to €80,000.

Mr Cassidy, who unsuccessfully petitioned the State to buy the Pearse letter, said the finger-printing machine was of "at least equal importance to the Pearse letter". He said "this haemorrhaging of our national treasures" had to stop.