Boyne diary goes for triple expected price
A FIRST-HAND account of the Battle of the Boyne has been sold for some three times more than expected in London.
The account was written by Captain John Stevens, who fought for King James against King William at the iconic battle in 1690.
A spokesman for Bonham’s auctioneers in London said that the book went for 43,200 yesterday.
Institutions across the UK, the Republic and north America were thought to be battling for the manuscript, which had been expected to go for 10-15,000.
The spokesman for Bonham’s said that if a public institution buys an artefact they usually wish to publicise it, but that if a private individual buys it they usually don’t, for security reasons.
“I’ve checked and I’m afraid as I suspected that we can’t make identity of purchaser public,” he told the News Letter. “There was quite a bit of interest in the book from Northern Ireland but not exclusively from there”.
The Grand Secretary of the Orange Order, Drew Nelson, said his organisation had no interest in buying the book due to “the possibility” that it was not objective. “It was written by someone in a command position after he was on the losing side in battle,” Mr Nelson said.
Capt Stevens claimed more than 1,000 of the Jacobite troops were too drunk to fight after a consignment of brandy, ordered to fortify the men on the eve of battle, did not arrive until the famous kings were drawing swords.
Mr Nelson said that historians had to ask if Capt Stevens was trying to make excuses for why the battle was lost, however he added that it was up to the officers to regulate the amount of alcohol their men drank.
“Notwithstanding, this was a fantastic price and demonstrates the interest in artefacts from this period. Several years ago the order bought a letter for 5,000 which was written by King William several days before the battle.”
Some 60,000 men took part in the Battle of the Boyne, which William won, and less than 2,000 died, he added.
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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