Props used in two world famous County Mayo films and TV series up for auction

Props used in two internationally renowned movies shot in a County Mayo Island and a TV series written by a Mayo author are up for auction next month.

Items from the movie The Banshees of Inisherin which was partly filmed on Achill Island in County Mayo and stared Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and Barry Keoghan, will go under the hammer alongside other famous props from four decades of Irish film and TV.

The clock featuring a man with a top hat from Colm Doherty’s mantelpiece in The Banshees of Inisherin is on the auction card while the spotlight also shines once more on kitchen chairs used by Emily Blunt’s character in the 2020 romantic comedy Wild Mountain Thyme.

The comedy-drama starred Emily Blunt, Jamie Dornan and Jon Hamm, was written and directed by John Patrick Shanley, based on his play Outside Mullingar and was filmed in North Mayo in the village of Crossmolina and close to Ballina town.

Also up for auction is the sofa used by Marianne, played by Daisy Edgar-Jones, in Normal People, the screen adaptation of Sally Rooney’s hit novel.

Sally Rooney was born in Castlebar, the market town in County Mayo, and her book ‘Normal People’ became a TV sensation in 2020 following the lives of Connell and Marianne as they grew up in the fictional town of Carricklea, which was filmed in Sligo.

Also of cinematic note is the rifles from the 1996 film Michael Collins alongside items from My Left Foot, including the mirror which hangs prominently in the wake scene of My Left Foot.

The 1,800 extras and set dressings were supplied by Historic Interiors, a prop hire business founded in 1986 and which has furnished scenes from Game of Thrones to Father Ted, In The Name of the Father and The Crown.

It is putting its entire collection up for grabs in an online auction, valued at €400,000, from December 5 to 8.

The auction will see an average of 450 lots a day go under the hammer over four days, from Irish vernacular, industrial, vintage, antique and furnishings.

The auction is being run by Historic Interior, which was founded by Matt McNulty, former Chairman of Bord Failte and adviser to the OPW, and his son Killian.

Killian said the auction gives people the chance to own a piece of Irish history.

“The prop rifles from Michael Collins, which are rubber, can be seen when Collins (Neeson) breaks into the Barracks, but they were also featured in The Wind that Shakes the Barley and every Irish 1916 movie that came out thereafter.

“Historic Interiors began due to my father’s interest in collecting period furniture and antiques.

“He was involved in some furnishing projects of behalf of the State, and as word got around, the Irish film industry began to contact him to supply period pieces for their sets.

“We would go shopping at auctions, antique shops and house clearances, striving to find the objects that really tell the story of that era.

“In The Field, the dresser and crockery that The Bull, Richard Harris, smashes was ours.

“You often will have companies that buy up our props rather than rent them, especially for TV programmes with multiple series, and then when they are finished they sell them on the general market for a low price, which is not a healthy eco-system as far as we are concerned.

“Our preference is to rent out pieces to the industry and care for them in the meantime, but that is no longer viable,” said Killian.

The auction will take place in Prussia Street, Dublin, from December 5 to 8, and online at irishcountryhome.com, courtesy of auctioneer Aidan Foley, and catalogued by Niall Mullen.

Viewing of the items is open to the public and will take place at 60 Prussia Street, Dublin, from December 2 to 4.

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