COMPLIMENTARY COPY
Published Weekly By Joel Sater Publications www.antiquesandauctionnews.net
VOL. 43, NO. 11 FRIDAY MARCH 16, 2012
A Celebration Of St. Patrick’s Day Collectibles by John Wesley Thomas addition of butter or milk, the potat’s March 17th and someone to, while bland, had enough nutriin the world is celeents to be considered a brating St. whole meal. Patrick’s Day. Not Unfortunately just someone, but the potato was probably over 80 the only form of million people sustenance for worldwide who more than oneclaim some Irish half of the Irish ancestry, are in a population. And celebratory when this mood for this important important crop failed cultural and in sucreligious cessive holiday. In years, the United Ireland States close to was on the 21 percent or verge of 41 million of wholethe white sale starpopulation vation. In are of Irish the prime e t h n i c i t y, potatowhile 10 growing million or belt in cen25 percent tral Ireland, claim total w h o l e “Irishness.” counties But on St. were decPatrick’s Day since everyone claims Salt and Pepper Set of an Irish Boy and Girl dressed in medium green and red attire, 3 to be Irish, it is one of our nation’s largest cel- inches high. Blue stamp at base “Germany.” ebratory observances. Ireland, imated of population, either from made up of the Republic of death due to the causes of Ireland and Northern Ireland, starvation and other faminetoday has a combined population related diseases and/or emiof 6.4 million, which is 25 per- gration to other Englishcent lower than it was at its peak, speaking countries. From in the mid-1800s. Nonetheless, in a peak population of 8.5 a country where 74 percent of the million in 1845, this litIrish consider themselves tle island nation over the Catholic, St. Patrick’s Day is first celebrated as a day of piety, and A Leprechaun/Gnome then as a robust event of which Doorstop, 10.5 inches Painted Cast there are over 121 parades in high Iron, circa late 1920s which to participate. to late 1930s. Between 1845 and 1852 a nat- American made ural disaster befell Ireland unlike probably by any registered before that time. H u b l e y During those episodic years the Manufacturing LanGreat Famine (An Gorta Mor), Company, known outside Ireland as the caster, Pennsylvania, the cast-iron Great Potato Famine, occurred foremost manufacturer when eight straight years of the doorstop in the United States. country’s foremost edible crop failed due to the Blight, an next five years suffered extremely destructive potato fun- a loss of over 25 percent gus. And this Blight was potent! of its population while another 2.4 Within days after the potatoes million lost their land and had to were dug up from the ground, enter one of the many abysmal they began to turn workhouses set up by the British. into a blackish, In economic terms this was devasslimy, odorous tating, as 4.7 million Irish were decaying mass removed from the workforce. One of “rottenness.” hundred and sixty years later, As the majority of the Irish peasants were strictly tenant farmers, the crops and livestock that they raised were the property of the B r i t i s h landowners. For their labors each tenant farmer was “given” a plot of land similar to an acre in which to raise Day pin-back Badges food for his family. That single St. Patrick’s and Ribbons. acre, devoted to potatoes, could support a family of five or more Ireland is still recovering from this for one year. With the occasional economic and cultural disaster of
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population loss compounded by the fratricidal conflicts for Irish sovereignty in the early 20th century. In the aftermath of this chaotic turn of
merly named Maewyn Succat) a Romano-Britain, was born about 387 AD to a well-to-do and pious family living on the western coast of England. When he was quite young he was cap-
priests retained a special reverence for the shamrock due to its alleged potency against evil spirits, St. Patrick utilized the three leaves of the green clover as a visual image in c o n verting
the pagan events some two population to “Fiesta-Shamrock.” Place setting of four: dinner plate, 8-inch million Irish citizens, diameter, luncheon plate, 7-inch diameter, bowl 7-inch diame- Christianity. In this who had some means, ter, and mug, 3.5-inch diameter platter, 13.5 inches long, and manner St. Patrick were able to emi- set of salt and pepper shakers, 2.25 inches deep. The Homer suggested that the Laughlin Company, Newell, West Virginia. grate, either singly three leaves symbolor as a family unit, to far flung tured by Irish raiders and kept as a ically represented the Holy parts of the world such as the slave/shepherd to a Druidical priest Trinity…the Father, the Son and United States, Great Britain, in Ireland for six years, until he the Holy Spirit. In the late 18th Canada, the Americas, and was able to escape and be reunited century when the Irish republican Australia. While the Great Famine with his family. By then when he revolutionary groups began to was the primary cause of Irish emi- was in his early twenties he became press for democratic reforms, the gration, the inability to practice religious and, due to a vision, he “wearing of the green” became a their Roman Catholic religion, the studied in France to become a symbol of Irish unity as well as lack of literacy, and the many evic- priest. After his baptism and confir- cultural identity. One of the most visible forms of this fraternal unity was the wearing of the green Irish shamrock, an enduring and emblematic national symbol, both then and now. One of the most fanciful myths surrounding St. Patrick was his driving all serpents from Ireland. In actuality if ever snakes and reptiles were (Left) Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. Artist signed Ellen Clapsaddle card shows families celebrating the holiday by taking a ride on a dirigible aptly named the Shamrock. Published by International Art. Very collectible card.
tions from land due to non-payment of rents all contributed to one of the largest population shifts in history. The direct descendants of this initial wave of emigration are called the Irish Diaspora. And the successive generations after have contributed 80 million Irishmen of various shades. When 80 million Irishmen worldwide and their “Irish-for-aday” friends get together to celebrate their “Irishness,” the hands down choice on the annual calendar is St. Patrick’s Day. St. Patrick, a Christian missionary, is generally recognized as the Patron Saint of Ireland or the Apostle of Ireland. Patrick, (for-
mation he returned to Ireland as an ordained bishop and spent the rest of his life, through many trials and tribulations, converting the Irish to Christianity. While the dates of St. Patrick’s death vary (mid to late 5th century), he is said to be buried at Down Cathedral in Downpatrick, County Down, Ireland. To garnish the luster of St. Patrick’s image, there are two myths that have stood the test of time. They are (1) the spiritual message of the shamrock, and “The pipe of Peace.” Artist: Unkown. Life (2) the banishment of magazine cover, March 16, 1922. snakes from Ireland. In Ireland there grows several varieties of a three- originally indigenous to Ireland leafed clover called a “shamrock.” they were eliminated during the While the ancient Irish druidic (Continued on page 2)