Wills offered in an auction

Jellybaby_1

I could hardly believe my eyes. Anyone ever come across this happening before? Pity it doesn't give any names.

A great selection of antique ephemera. Including wills and leases dating back to 1868. Of Irish origin. Most of which have been handwritten, stamped and sealed. Very interesting selection with beautiful script. 12 items.

https://www.easyliveauction.com/catalogue/lot/c16766b94d2d56401c59d2ae9c61759a/0af8d24542e81eb9357e7ef448a6646f/another-huge-weekly-timed-auction-of-912-lots-and-its-g-lot-190/

HorseSea

I have seen this quite often, though never anything very recent. I assume they come from house clearances and everything including the half dead pot plants gets offered for sale!

I imagine there is a cut off date of how recent the wills can be, but I have no idea.

pinkypinky

There'd be no cut off date for stuff that came out of someone's house. If a will is probated, it's a public document.

I've seen lots of records go for sale like this around the country. I wish I could buy them all and start building a random collection.

That particular lot sold for €32!

VirginiaB

It seems so wrong somehow.

Jellybaby_1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119957271#Comment_119957271

I feel the same way. If I had them I'd feel duty bound to return them to the present family members if I could find them, or track them down via the estate, don't know how successful I'd be but I'd try. Maybe the bidder has the best of intentions.

Mick Tator

It appeared too late to ascertain what they were, as the auction was over at 3pm today and it was nearly that time when I saw it, too late to ask a question. . It was badly organised by the auctioneer, perhaps deliberately. Were the documents of particular interest the deponents' names or the landed estate names would have been detailed. There is a confidentiality issue, only for recent wills as the names of the beneficiaries and the values/details of the bequests are not available in the Probate Office and access also is limited to those named in the will.

Hermy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119957306#Comment_119957306

I've encountered two similar instances on Boards in the past so it's definitely worth pursuing if it's something that crosses your path.

A chap running an antiques and collectables shop in Galway who came into possession of some books belonging to an ancestor of mine made contact via the site. The ancestor has an unusual name so presumably a Google search led him to our forum. He held the books from general sale until I'd had a chance to view them and offered me my choice of any item I wanted at no charge. That was decent so I took one and bought another. The ancestor was a doctor and one of the books, which were a present upon his retirement, contained a note to him.

On another occasion someone posted on the forum inquiring about how they might return a family bible that had come into their possession. Again, the surname was unusual and I set about trying to track down living relatives. Fortunately, or unfortunately, a living relative had been involved in an accident which made the newspapers and this gave me the link I needed to make contact and the bible was duly returned.

Jellybaby_1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119957526#Comment_119957526

Would there really be a confidentiality issue Mick? I've researched lots of wills in the Archives, and anyone can access them. I believe wills such as those in the auction should always be the property of the family of the deceased anyway.

VirginiaB

Not exactly the same thing but a dozen years ago, an auction house had a 19c stereograph photo of the vessel my great-grandfather James Quinlan, born Castletownroche, Co Cork, served on in the American Civil War. I have had an eBay watch on another such photo ever since and another one has never appeared there or on Google tho I have searched many times. I had saved the page from the internet but the image was poor quality.

A few weeks ago, on impulse, I emailed the auction house to see if they had a better copy. A very nice woman replied within an hour. She had contacted their research department and sent a high-res copy and kind words about James Quinlan's story. I was able to send both out to the family for Veterans Day here. He is my only great-grandparent for whom we have no picture so this is extra special.