A RARE piece of self-defence weaponry owned by a former mayor of Limerick is being auctioned this week in Berkshire by Dreweatts Auctioneers as part of a collection.
The Victorian brass and ebony tipstaff, dated around 1870, belonged to Sir Peter Tait (1828-1890), a colourful, flamboyant entrepreneur who served as Mayor of Limerick from 1866 to 1868.
He established a clothing business in the city which manufactured uniforms for the British army. Tait’s Clock, which still stands in the city, was erected in his honour.
While the highly decorated, predominantly Victorian defence pieces are seen on the market occasionally, “it is very rare to have such an extensive selection of them together”, said Ashley Matthews, specialist at Dreweatts.
Truncheons were used before official police forces were founded. The majority of the highly decorated pieces were seen in the 18th century and often featured coats of arms, motifs, symbols and emblems connected to their owner and the region that the owner was from.
Sir Peter also opened a clothing business at 95 Southwark Street, near Blackfriars Bridge. In March 1872 he won the contract for supplying truncheons to the Metropolitan Police.
Sir Peter retired in 1875 and moved to Thessaloniki in Northern Greece to establish a Turkish cigarette factory.
However, this venture was not a success and he died in poverty at the Hotel De France in Batumi, Georgia, on December 11 1890, at the age of 62.
