A seller on internet shopping website eBay is offering what is claimed to be Mountjoy Prison manuscripts from the Civil War, with a starting bid of €10,000.
The offer, which ends today, will not be taken up by the National Museum, which said the manuscripts had to be examined before any purchase was made and it was a pity the seller did not take them to the museum first.
The unidentified seller claims on the site that the document is 83-years-old. "This book goes back to early 1900s Ireland, and is Irish prisoners' last thoughts before death, who were hung . . . during the Irish Civil War. It is an autograph book and has quotes and poems from prisoners about Ireland, the IRA and the invasion of Great Britain," it says.
Sandra McElroy, curator of the Easter week and historic collection at the National Museum, said the museum had strict rules about provenance and went through trusted auction houses. "We couldn't offer a huge price even if it was genuine," she said, adding that the most they usually paid for Civil War documents was about €2,000.
The seller, when asked on eBay about the source, replied: "You only have to look at it to see how old it is. My granfather [ sic] passed it to my dad."