Michael Collins walking stick sells for £52,000 at east Belfast auction

A walking stick reputedly owned by Michael Collins has sold for more five times its estimate at auction.
Walking stick once belonging to Michael Collins with letter of providence, one of the lots sold at Bloomfield AuctionsWalking stick once belonging to Michael Collins with letter of providence, one of the lots sold at Bloomfield Auctions
Walking stick once belonging to Michael Collins with letter of providence, one of the lots sold at Bloomfield Auctions

The phone buyer from the Irish Republic purchased the stick for £52,000 plus fees at a sale at Belfast auctioneer Bloomfield, a record for the auction house.

Police files tracking Collins’ activities during Ireland’s War of Independence also sold for £6,800 at the police and military-themed sale.

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It was also bought by a phone bidder from south of the border.

The intelligence reports on Collins, who led the IRA’s fight against British forces in the War of Independence, were contained in a dossier of Royal Irish Constabulary documents that cover the period 1920 to 1922.

The Collins walking stick, which has a silver collar and tip, was accompanied by a letter of provenance.

Karl Bennett, the managing director of Bloomfield Auctions, said the stick had been estimated to go for potentially £10,000.

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“Today saw an auction house record,” he told the PA news agency.

“We are delighted to see that the Michael Collins stick made an incredulous £52,000 plus fees.

“We are delighted to see it go to someone in the south.”

The century-old artefacts related to the Irish republican leader were among a series of historical lots that went under the hammer.

Other items included a service medal from the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin complete with its original box.

It sold for £1,800.

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A gate from inside one of the H blocks in the Troubles-era Maze prison sold for £340.

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