Auction Date:2011 Apr 16 @ 13:00 (UTC+01:00 : BST/CET)
Location:The Freemasons Hall - 17 Molesworth Street, Dublin, Dublin, ., Ireland
Circa 50-60 million BC. Giants Causeway hexagonal basalt stones
A collection of four hexagonal basalt column sections similar to those found in the Giants Causeway, Co Antrim. They have been situated in the garden of a County Donegal home for the at least fifty years and it is possible that they were acquired from Kennedy Quarries, Portrush in the vicinity of what is now land belonging to the National Trust. Similar examples were auctioned at Summers Place Auctions in association with Sotheby’s on 19 October 2010 (lot 132) and realised £18,500. The Giant's Causeway is today owned and managed by the National Trust and it is the most popular tourist attraction in Northern Ireland. Some 50 to 60 million years ago, during the Paleogene period, Antrim was subject to intense volcanic activity, when highly fluid molten basalt intruded through chalk beds to form an extensive lava plateau. As the lava cooled rapidly, contraction occurred. While contraction in the vertical direction reduced the flow thickness (without fracturing), horizontal contraction could only be accommodated by cracking throughout the flow. The size of the columns is primarily determined by the speed at which lava from a volcanic eruption cools. The extensive fracture network produced the distinctive columns seen today. The basalts were originally part of a great volcanic plateau called the Thulean Plateau which formed during the Paleogene period. Legend has it that the Irish warrior Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn McCool) built the causeway to walk to Scotland to fight his Scottish counterpart BenandonnerExamples of these stones in private collections are extremely rare as the Causeway area has been National Trust property for many years and it is illegal to remove anything from the site.
Auction Location:
The Freemasons Hall - 17 Molesworth Street, Dublin, Dublin, ., Ireland
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