Huge crowds are expected today for one of the most significant auctions of 1916-related documents and memorabilia.
The "Independence Sale" by James Adam and Sons and Mealy's Auctioneers will auction about 1,000 documents relating to 1916 and its aftermath. The 450-lot sale, which starts at 11.30am will continue until about 9pm, with a two-hour break.
The lot attracting most interest is the earliest autographed manuscript of the national anthem. It is expected to make between €800,000 and €1.2 million. The document is a folded page, probably from a copy-book, with the text of A Soldier's Song by Peadar Kearney written in pencil on both sides of the page. The music, by Paddy Heeney, is written in pencil on a separate sheet.
It is accompanied by a handwritten letter of provenance from Séamus de Búrca, Peadar Kearney's nephew and biographer.
A manuscript verse of the song, auctioned as part of a Peadar Kearney archive, was withdrawn from a Whyte's Auctioneers sale on Sunday at €460,000. The seller was seeking about €500,000. Whyte's are still in contact with a couple of bidders about the sale but it is expected that another bid will not be made until after today's auction.
Stuart Cole, director of James Adam and Sons, said there was huge interest in today's sale.
While the auctioneers have put a rough estimate of €2 million to €3 million on the auction, Mr Cole said it was impossible to predict what some of the lots would make. He pointed to the "surrender" letter by Patrick Pearse sold recently. Adam's put an estimate of €50,000-€70,000, but it made €700,000.
He said Tom Clarke's medal was a significant item. It is expected to make from €10,000 to €15,000 but Mr Cole said that it could fetch much more, given that a Victoria Cross could make up to £100,000 .
Other significant lots include the Tricolour believed to have flown from the GPO during the Rising and one of the few surviving copies of the Proclamation.
The €25 auction catalogue has already become a collector's item for some, who got Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to sign their copies when he visited the Adam's salerooms on St Stephen's Green last week. The salerooms can accommodate about 500 people today but telephone and online bids will also be accepted.
Meanwhile, an archive of about 15,000 historical documents will go on public display in Ballina, Co Mayo, at the end of this year or early next year. The Jackie Clarke Library, which is to be located in the former Moy Hotel, has been bequeathed by a former businessman in Ballina to his native town.
