Auction House Ivory
Dublin Core
Title
Auction House Ivory
Subject
Alf Kennedy tells of his Father sourcing ivory for bagpipes in the 1950s Cork
Description
Excerpt from oral history interview where the narrator tells of his Father sourcing ivory for bagpipes in the 1950s Cork
Transcript
"Ya, and he had a small shop there and he made the pipes at the back of the shop, again it was quite a small area like, but ehm very good and he made reed -- and ehm -- as I said the father got these pipes him then and -- Tadgh (Crowley)-- things were -- materials were very scarce, it was hard to get anything, it was hard to get timber, it was hard to get anything to mount the pipes with like and the imitation ivory at the time was very very poor stuff, he was using old- I think he was using casein I think out was of some creamery were manufacturing casein, for what I don’t know, but was a bloody thing that wouldn’t -- it ‘twasn’t a very good material really you know? But it was a case of when you’re stuck, you’re stuck and you have to use something. Funny enough the -- one day the father -- he used, he used be around, he used to be actually I think, I‘d say without exaggerating he used to spend about 16 hours on duty every day(as a Garda), and there was no over time. He was just into the job and he’d keep at the bloody thing, and he used hop in and out of the auction rooms, there was Barry’s auction rooms, there Woodward’s and Marshes and these places. And Barry at one stage anyhow had 4 elephants tusks hanging up for sale and an elephant gun, some British crowd, of course they were broke at the time, a lot of them, after the troubles their money had gone and they used sell off an awful lot of beautiful furniture, you know? They had to kind of. Obviously one of them was out in Africa at some stage and acquired these elephant tusks and this elephant gun. He bought the 4 tusks anyhow, very cheap I’m sure at the time, and this gun, which was inside of it, beautiful leather, leather case, like it was hand stitched and all-- it was a big bloody thing it was these elephant guns were fairly substantial. Of course, when Tadgh heard he had bought these, these tusks anyhow he said ‘jeez, could you ever give me a tusk?’ he paid for the tusks, he brought 3 of them up here bit by bit, they were still here when I started or when he started himself. But Tadgh took one anyhow and the set of pipes he had at the time were -- as I said the mountings were very bad, he remounted it with the ivory, the cost of the tusk was to remount it. But he came up through Patrick’s Street from Barry’s auction room which was is -- Academy Street, and he the gun in 1 hand and the elephant’s tusk over the shoulder he met a few of his buddies on the way up Patrick Street ‘jeez Moss, where were you?’ well he said, ‘I’m just back from Africa and I’m after shooting a few elephants’ ah jeez. So, they were funny times."
Transcript
"Ya, and he had a small shop there and he made the pipes at the back of the shop, again it was quite a small area like, but ehm very good and he made reed -- and ehm -- as I said the father got these pipes him then and -- Tadgh (Crowley)-- things were -- materials were very scarce, it was hard to get anything, it was hard to get timber, it was hard to get anything to mount the pipes with like and the imitation ivory at the time was very very poor stuff, he was using old- I think he was using casein I think out was of some creamery were manufacturing casein, for what I don’t know, but was a bloody thing that wouldn’t -- it ‘twasn’t a very good material really you know? But it was a case of when you’re stuck, you’re stuck and you have to use something. Funny enough the -- one day the father -- he used, he used be around, he used to be actually I think, I‘d say without exaggerating he used to spend about 16 hours on duty every day(as a Garda), and there was no over time. He was just into the job and he’d keep at the bloody thing, and he used hop in and out of the auction rooms, there was Barry’s auction rooms, there Woodward’s and Marshes and these places. And Barry at one stage anyhow had 4 elephants tusks hanging up for sale and an elephant gun, some British crowd, of course they were broke at the time, a lot of them, after the troubles their money had gone and they used sell off an awful lot of beautiful furniture, you know? They had to kind of. Obviously one of them was out in Africa at some stage and acquired these elephant tusks and this elephant gun. He bought the 4 tusks anyhow, very cheap I’m sure at the time, and this gun, which was inside of it, beautiful leather, leather case, like it was hand stitched and all-- it was a big bloody thing it was these elephant guns were fairly substantial. Of course, when Tadgh heard he had bought these, these tusks anyhow he said ‘jeez, could you ever give me a tusk?’ he paid for the tusks, he brought 3 of them up here bit by bit, they were still here when I started or when he started himself. But Tadgh took one anyhow and the set of pipes he had at the time were -- as I said the mountings were very bad, he remounted it with the ivory, the cost of the tusk was to remount it. But he came up through Patrick’s Street from Barry’s auction room which was is -- Academy Street, and he the gun in 1 hand and the elephant’s tusk over the shoulder he met a few of his buddies on the way up Patrick Street ‘jeez Moss, where were you?’ well he said, ‘I’m just back from Africa and I’m after shooting a few elephants’ ah jeez. So, they were funny times."
Creator
Cork Folklore Project
Source
CFP_SR00573_kennedy_2016
Publisher
Cork Folklore Project
Date
April 2016
Contributor
Alf Kennedy (narrator) Noel O'Mahony and James Furey (Interviewer) James Furey (editor)
Rights
Copyright Cork Folklore Project
Format
.mp3
Language
English
Type
Audio
Citation
Cork Folklore Project, “Auction House Ivory,” Cork Memory Map, accessed May 7, 2024, https://corkfolklore.org/cmm/items/show/75.