Ballinhassig massacre shillelagh sells for over €5k

A Shillelagh from the infamous massacre in the quiet Cork village of Ballinhassig in 1845 sold for a hammer price of €5,100 at Fonsie Mealy’s summer auction in Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny, last week.

From the collection of the noted Cork antiquarian Robert Day, it had been estimated at €300-€400.

The massacre followed faction fighting after the fair day and 10 men and a woman were shot dead by police.

The shillelagh came with an engraved plaque, mounted and inscribed: “Retrieved after Fair Day Massacre, Ballinhassig, 30 June ‘45”.

The vast collection of Robert Day (1836-1914) was dispersed at major auctions before and after his death.

It included gold, Viking silver, jewellery and medieval religious items.

Much of it ended up in museums or in the hands of the world’s richest men, including Randolph Hearst, American businessman, newspaper publisher, and politician

Robert Day was the president of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society.

The family business in saddlery and sporting goods meant he had a Cork city-centre location for anyone wishing to sell something to him.