Native American costume makes €320,000 at Kilkenny auction

Other ‘sleepers’ at lively auction included Chinese lots

A Native American costume, brought home to an aristocratic house in Co Kilkenny more than 100 years ago, sold for €320,000 at Fonsie Mealy Auctioneers on Wednesday evening.

The unusual lot – which had a top pre-sale estimate of €6,000 – was bought after intense bidding by an unnamed bidder, on the telephone in the US.

Auctioneer George F Mealy described the outfit as "a real rarity – most are in museums".

The winning bidder faced competition from two other bidders in the saleroom who had travelled to the auction in Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny from the US.

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The outfit consists of a hide poncho war shirt “with original hand-painted native designs”; hide leggings; an original hand painted and beaded head dress with feathers, and a sheep hide, bead-decorated purse.

Mr Mealy said the outfit was one of a number of items in the sale associated with the aristocratic Anglo-Irish de Montmorency family of Castle Morres in Co Kilkenny – which was demolished in the 1970s.

Various members of the family had served the British Empire including Geoffrey Fitz-Hervey de Montmorency (1876 – 1955) whose uniforms as Governor of the Punjab, along with photographs and various mementoes sold for €4,000 (€2,200-€2,800).

There were other ‘sleepers’ among the lots in the auction which fetched huge multiples of their estimates after attracting unexpected interest and very competitive bidding.

A 12-inch 19th century Chinese hardwood table spice carriage sold for €41,000 – 41 times the top estimate (€700-€1,000).

The item was originally in "the collections at No 9 Fitzwilliam Square and Tassagart House, Saggart, Co Dublin", as was an ornate early 19th century Chinese "carved hardwood table screen/cabinet", 15.5 inches high", which made €26,000 (€1,200- €1,800).

A jade bowl, just three inches in diameter, sold for €3,000 (€200-€300).

A set of six green-stained, ivory handled steel forks, engraved with the initials and coat of arms of Ireland's greatest satirist, the author Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), sold for €3,800 – comfortably exceeding the top estimate of €3,000.

A stained-glass panel titled Jesus, Mary and St Anne made by the Harry Clarke Studios for the Catholic Church in Kildimo, Co Limerick in 1926 at a cost of £20 sold for €12,500 (€7,000-€10,000). The window had been salvaged by an architect when the church was demolished.

Overall, some 80 per cent of lots sold.