A newly-discovered and previously unrecorded copy of the original Proclamation of Independence of the Irish Republic sold for £69, 600 at auction yesterday - twice as much as expected.
The single sheet of creased paper - one of only about 20 surviving copies - had been expected to fetch a maximum of £35,000 at Sotheby's in London.
Around 1,000 copies were printed at Liberty Hall, Dublin, on Easter Sunday 1916, marking the beginning of the Easter Rising and effectively inaugurating modern Irish history. But the vast majority were destroyed in the storming of the hall and the chaotic events in the surrounding streets. Sotheby's specialist Mr Peter Selley said yesterday: "Of the utmost rarity, the proclamation is undoubtedly the most important document in the history of the Irish nation, containing the first aspirations of the Republic as well as being a Proclamation of Independence." The copy was bought by a private collector.