Dublin Auctioneers at war over Soldier’s Song
Published March 19th, 2006
TWO of Dublin’s leading auction houses have gone to war over the Soldier’s Song. The battle has broken out ahead of two 1916-themed sales during Easter week, when both Adam’s and Whyte’s will be offering rival versions of the Irish national anthem.
Adam’s is expecting bids of up to €1.2m for a 1907 document that it bills as the “original words and music” of Amhran na bhFiann handwritten by Peadar Kearney, who composed the anthem in that year.
Whyte’s is disputing the value of the manuscript and claims copies of it are already in archives elsewhere, including the National Museum. It is offering a different version of the song — part of a Kearney collection — in a sale on April 10. This includes a folded card with a verse of the anthem penned by Kearney and signed by him in Irish at Ballykinlar in 1921 on one side, with a manuscript poem by a different writer on the other.
“They (Adam’s) have the Soldier’s Song written on a piece of paper which he (Kearney) wrote for Nellie Bushnell who he worked with in the Abbey theatre,” said Ian Whyte, managing director of Whyte & Sons.
“I don’t know how they can make out it’s so unique, though I’m sure the thing has some merit. It’s not the only copy in existence.”
Whyte’s is hoping to fetch up to €1m for its Kearney collection, which includes a poem written by Brendan Behan, the composer’s nephew. It also has a medal Kearney earned for his part in the Easter Rising, and photographs signed by him.
Adam’s will sell its Kearney document on April 12 as part of a themed Independence Sale to coincide with the 90th anniversary of the Easter Rising. The auction house said the Kearney song, which is written in English over two pages, is the original manuscript and that it is “sour grapes” on the part of Whyte’s to suggest otherwise.
“It’s the only one I know of,” said Stuart Cole, a director of James Adam & Sons
