Antiques: Treasures of Castle Matrix to go under the hammer

Militaria, books and collectibles from Co Limerick at Aidan Foley's auction

Some of the guns to be sold from the collection at Castle Matrix.

Hidden in plain sight, the treasures of Castle Matrix — mostly to be sold without reserve at three online evening sales by Aidan Foley — are many and varied. Militaria, books and collectibles from a collector with an inquiring mind who led a fascinating life will come under the hammer.

Col Sean O'Driscoll was aide to General Douglas MacArthur when he accepted the Japanese surrender in 1945. On retirement in 1961, the Irish-American officer bought and restored Castle Matrix near Rathkeale, originally built around 1420, opening it for mediaeval banquets in 1971. 

Castle Matrix served as the headquarters of the International Institute of Military History and the Heraldry Society of Ireland, and it remained open for tours until the colonel's death in 1991.

Take a deep dive into the auction by Aidan Foley in Doneraile on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday week (September 22, 23 and 24), and there is no knowing what you might find. More than 300 lots of books will be sold in an auction with a total of 997 lots.

'Isis Unveiled' by Madame Blavatsky at Aidan Foley's sale.

The extensive library contains works on everything from war, ancient and modern Irish culture, English homes and Scottish castles to mystic Madame Blavatsky, who once told WB Yeats: "There are only about half a dozen real Theosophists in the world, and one of those is stupid." 

O'Driscoll must have had a real interest in the occult. His castle is reputedly haunted by the murdered 9th Earl of Desmond, and in an address to the Fellowship of Isis in 1976, he claimed the poet Edmund Spenser, Sir Walter Raleigh and the wizard Earl of Desmond had practised magic there.

A large rug and some uniforms at Aidan Foley's sale.

You can't shoot a ghost, but more than 50 guns from a military man and a collector are on offer. Flintlock pistols, double-barrelled shotguns, rifles with bayonets and even a Colt revolver, along with accoutrements like an armoured tank telescope and the tunic of an American platoon sergeant, are there to be picked up.

In storage at Collins Barracks, Cork, over the years, the guns — some decommissioned, others not — will be sold under strict conditions. There will be limited viewing of the firearms at the Doneraile auction rooms, where the sale will be on view for four days from next Friday (September 19).

Library of Congress Washington Papers, 1775-1780, at Aidan Foley's sale.

Many of the Japanese swords he collected with discrimination were sold by Whyte's in 2017. Available now is a selection of art, Irish silver, Persian rugs, porcelain, antique and vintage furniture. Among the artists featured are Ivan Sutton, Markey Robinson, Graham Knuttel, John Kingerlee, James Humbert Craig, Michael Hales, Louis le Brocquy, Picasso (a lithograph) and pencil drawings by John Butler Yeats. The catalogue is online.