A 125-year-old explosive shell sparked an alert in an auction room in County Laois.

The eight-inch object was found in an old trunk full of items brought in to be sold.

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“I called the guards and a detective arrived in around three minutes,” auctioneer Sean Eacrett told the Sunday Independent.

Several more gardai arrived on the scene and two Garda vehicles were used to block the entrance to the showrooms at Ballyshaneduff, Ballybrittas, while the shell was examined.

“It was made of brass and copper and it had a date marked 1894,” he added.

He had carried the shell out of the building and placed it on the ground outside to await the arrival of gardai.

He said a Garda inspector took away the shell and he was informed it was being taken to the ballistics section at Garda headquarters in Dublin for further examination.

An elderly couple who owned the trunk did not know of the existence of the shell, according to Mr Eacrett.

“They were very surprised when I telephoned to tell them what we found. They never knew it was there. They bought the trunk at a church jumble sale in Glenageary in County Dublin around 35 years ago,” he said.

He then joked that the potentially dangerous weapon looked like a vibrator when he first saw it.

“It looked like a vibrator with the primer still intact,” said the auctioneer.

“Not that I’d know a lot about them,” he added.

The trunk containing the shell was one of four old military-style trunks the couple had bought and they had thought about using them as coffee tables. They had not paid much attention to the various contents of the trunks which they put in the attic of their cottage at Castledermot, County Kildare, he said.

Mr Eacrett is selling the entire contents of their cottage. The trunks contained a large amount of historical memorabilia. Among the items were World War I trench maps, pieces of shrapnel, officers’ booklets, and aerial reconnaissance photographs that may been taken in North Africa.

There is a handwritten letter from a John Barnwell, who was a prisoner-of-war in a Japanese prison camp in World War II. It was written on board a ship in 1945 when he was on his way back to Ireland and was addressed to his brother Edward in Crumlin in Dublin.

Other items in the trunks included a document marked ”third and final draft of Irish Constitution” with a signature in old Gaelic script. There is a copy of a publication named The Nation – War Issue which contains reports on the 1922 Civil War executions in Mountjoy Prison of republicans Rory O’Connor, Liam Mellows, Joe McKelvey and Richard Barrett.

There is a document relating to the execution of Erskine Childers in Beggar’s Bush Barracks in Dublin in 1922, and also a large poster mocking Eamon de Valera, entitled ”Devvy’s Circus”.

There will also be other items submitted for auction, including two rare 1985 20p coins.

But Mr Eacrett is hoping the antique military shell will be returned. He said “If the shell has been decommissioned it will be included in the auction on Saturday next, April 27 and should sell for around €300 to €500.”

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