Key documents and historical treasures relating to the turbulent birth of modern Ireland are due to go under the hammer later this year in what has been billed as “the Irish sale of the century”.

Scheduled for mid-April to coincide with the 90th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising, when Irish rebels staged an ill-fated insurrection against British rule, the auction will comprise nearly 500 lots, many of them previously unseen.

The star attraction, according to Dublin auction house James Adam & Sons, will be the original words and music to Ireland’s national anthem. It is expected to fetch up to 1.2 million euros (823,000 pounds).

“That would be the highest price ever paid for an Irish historical document,” said Stuart Cole, a director of Adam’s, which is co-hosting the sale.

“But these things are almost impossible to value because they are so emotive — and you don’t get much more emotive in that sense than the national anthem.”

Handwritten by Peadar Kearney in 1907 on two pieces of paper, the “Soldier’s Song” was popularised by Irish rebels during the 1916 Rising and formally adopted as Ireland’s national anthem in 1926.

Posted: 02|15|06 at 9:12 am. Filed under: UK News.