WHYTE'S THE ECLECTIC COLLECTOR 13 MAY 2023

42 History 70 1838-1840 Chester and Birkenhead Railway Company certificates for shares and calls. (9) Includes 138 3rd and 4th Call of £10, 1839 5th Call of £10, 1840 1st instalment of £5, 2nd call of £5, 2nd and 3rd instalment of £5 , 6th and 7th Call of £5. All issued by The North and South Wales Bank 5 by 7in. (12.7 by 17.8cm) Condition: Very fine, lightly folded. Estimate €80-€100 (approx £70-£90) Click here for more images and to bid on this lot 70 71 1865-67 Fenian Bonds. A very rare printer’s proof of the black plate for the Ten Dollars denomination 5.50 by 10in. (14 by 25.4cm) Condition: Some fold marks, clipped corner at lower left, two tone spots, fine. These bonds were issued in America to fund the Fenian Rising of 1867 and were “redeemable six months after the acknowledgement of the Independence of the Irish Nation”. They were intended to raise funds and finance attacks against British interests worldwide. An attempted invasion of Canada took place in 1867. They were redeemed almost eighty years later when Eamon De Valera called the Fenian bonds in. Any outstanding bonds were thereafter valued only as collectibles, which today rarely show up at auction. John O’Mahony born 1816, near Mitchelstown, County Cork, died Feb. 6, 1877, was an Irish nationalist leader, he fled to New York in 1853, where he founded and led (1858 – 66) the Fenians. By 1865 the American Fenian group had become large and prosperous and was sending money and arms to Ireland. O’Mahony reluctantly backed the Irish Fenians’ decision to stage military raids in Canada against the British, part of a scheme to hold Canada hostage for the cause of Irish freedom. The raids failed and he resigned, but he was later called out of retirement (1872 – 77). Estimate €600-€800 (approx £530-£700) Click here for more images and to bid on this lot 71