A letter written by Michael Collins to Thomas Ashe reached more than five times the expected price at an art sale in Dublin last night.
The letter to Ashe, the 1916 Rising leader who later died on hunger strike, was expected to fetch about €50,000 but sold for €260,000.
The letter was sold by the family of Thomas Ashe, and the buyer was a private collector in the south of Ireland.
The letter, written in April 1917, contains Collins's views of political affairs and makes caustic comments about Arthur Griffith and Éamon de Valera.
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Also in the sale at the RDS, drawings by Countess Markievicz fetched €15,000, while a 1922 first edition of James Joyce's Ulyssesmade €23,000.