Maureen O’Hara auction in New York draws strong Irish interest

An Irish tweed jacket worn by Maureen O’Hara in the 1952 film The Quiet Man has sold for more than $16,000 (€15,000) at auction in New York.

Bonhams auctioneers’ sale of documents, clothing, jewellery and film memorabilia owned by the late Hollywood star on Tuesday night realised $445,000.

Born Maureen FitzSimons in Ranelagh, Dublin, in 1920, O’Hara died last year aged 95 in the United States. Her grandson Conor Beau FitzSimons had consigned more than 240 items to the auction.

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The tweed jacket O’Hara wore as the character Mary Kate Danaher in the film sold for $16,250 – more than twice its estimate.

The top lot, a cache of "secret love letters" sent to O'Hara by Quiet Man director John Ford sold for $75,000 – far less than the "hundreds of thousands of dollars" predicted in advance by a spokesman for the auction.

In a catalogue note, the letters were described as “so intimate and intense that O’Hara herself planned to destroy them upon her death, but in later years changed her mind”.

Bidders from Ireland were among the large crowd in the Madison Avenue saleroom where O'Hara's personal, annotated copy of The Quiet Man script sold for $50,000. A pale yellow ceramic mug with a gold handle, painted with the phrase Céad Míle Fáilte and Duke – gifted by her co-star John Wayne to O'Hara at the end of the production of the film – sold for $8,500, in excess of 12 times its top estimate.

Top estimate

The tweed jacket she wore as the character Mary Kate Danaher in the film sold for $16,250 – over double its top estimate. But a "jaunting cart used to carry cast and crew members from their lodgings in the village of Cong to the set – that had been valued at up to $120,000 – failed to sell.

Bonhams Director of Entertainment Memorabilia, Catherine Williamson, said, "It's clear that O'Hara's appeal is evergreen, she speaks just as much to young movie goers to those who saw her when her films first premiered. She had a fantastic sense of style and her clothing and accessories proved particularly popular, often selling for as many as 10 times their low estimates."

Among the outfits sold was Lot 75, consisting of a tweed cape with a label inscribed “O’Maille’s of Galway, black suede purse and wool skirt suit which sold for $2,125.

Among the most personal items, “a collection of Maureen O’Hara religious artifacts” including rosary beads, a prayer-book book entitled ‘Close to Jesus – A Picture Prayer Book for Jesus’ Little Friends’ and a small Child of Prague statue sold $687. A parchment bearing a blessing granted to O’Hara and her family in 1952 by Pope Pius XII sold for $1,625 – more than six times the top estimate.

According to Bonhams, Maureen O’Hara was “The Queen of Technicolor”, known for “her fiery red hair and emerald green eyes”. She appeared in more than 60 films and was awarded an honorary Oscar in 2014 for her contributions to the film industry.