Stacks bowers have a set of Limerick Soviet Notes, January 2022 NYINC Auction.

Seldon

Stacks bowers will have a superb graded set of Limerick Soviet Notes in its January 2022 NYINC Auction.
https://www.stacksbowers.com/News/Pages/Blogs.aspx?ArticleID=nyinc-2022-irish-shillings

There is a picture of the three notes in question on the their page.

I believe that the write up on the Stack's website is a little inaccurate in that the notes tended to be kept as souvenirs rather than being hastily destroyed. Opinion differs on this. We are still learning about these as more turn up.
The earliest publication about them that I am aware of is an article 'Mystery of the Limerick Soviet Notes' signatures' in Irish Numismatics, No.16, July-August 1970, D. Young.

These notes in Stacks are new to the census of Limerick Soviet Notes, though they are close in serial number to some notes already recorded which are also in UNC grade.

I figure they will sell in the range of $2,000 each.

There is a web page on the Limerick Soviet Notes which keeps new information on them up to date. These are keenly collected in Ireland, and have several varieties.

In addition, there are several write ups on the General Strike in Limerick in 1919. Kemmy, J., and Cahill, L., are regarded as being the experts on the

An interesting example of a Limerick Soviet 10 Shilling note is illustrated below, the note which was kept by by Charles Montgomery Hathaway, Jr, US Consul in Ireland in 1919. This note turned up in junk shop in San Francisco CA, around 18 years ago (2003 is the date of scan) along with the envelope it was kept in (which is how we know its history).

sellitstore

Interesting notes and history. Thanks for posting them.

Steve_in_Tampa

Very cool, thanks for sharing.
I was under the impression that this took place within a very limited period of time. I’m surprised they had time to print notes.

Seldon

@Steve_in_Tampa
You are correct. The whole general strike and stand-off took place over a period of about 2 weeks.
The strike committee also produced its own newspaper and took control of the economy in the portion of Limerick city it controlled.

It should be noted that the term 'Soviet' appears to have been applied to it by media reports - they did not refer to themselves as a Soviet as far as I understand.

The full story of the currency issues is yet to be determined.
A look at the serial number ranges of the surviving notes indicate that a print run of 400 of each denomination was produced. Additional to these are un-numbered notes kept as souvenirs.

Serial_no_8

"It should be noted that the term 'Soviet' appears to have been applied to it by media reports - they did not refer to themselves as a Soviet as far as I understand."

• yes, agreed, my understanding is that any union activity was deemed communist, "Red" or "Soviet" by the authorities back then. Even suffragette marches were frowned upon back then. Today, we know that it was a false attribution to make protests, strikes & any labour action look bad in the pubic eye.

Seldon

Some of these Limerick Soviet notes were printed on blue paper, and have non-authentic signatures. These are considered to be souvenirs.

The odd one of these has turned up on ebay over the years.

I find the Hathaway note to be interesting, in that it shows that the US was taking a keen interest in events in Ireland at the time.

Seldon

Price realised was $6,000 plus fees, which is in line with what they should be fetching.
Nice healthy market.

291fifth

D. Young, an Irish actor, was very involved in Irish note research back in the early 1970s. I corresponded with him several times during 1973-4. At that point in time interest in Irish paper money was just starting to build.

Seldon

I met D. Young a few times back in the early 1990s at shows in Dublin. He pioneered research on Irish paper money, and his magazine Irish Numismatics is still a relevant reference resource. There were a few articles and reports on the Limerick soviet notes in the magazine.