Pieces of Irish Georgian silver made to celebrate the crushing of the 1798 rebellion at New Ross, Co Wexford, sold at auction in Christie’s, London, yesterday for £49,250 (€55,182).
The auctioneers said the pair of silver soup tureens and covers had been bought by an unnamed bidder in the saleroom. The pieces last sold at an auction 57 years ago for £400. Inscriptions and marks show they were made in Dublin in 1799 by Robert Breading and presented to Major Gen Henry Johnson, to honour his “Gallantry and Spirit . . . in the Battle of New Ross”.