The global attention of history aficionados is on Northern Ireland as an auction of rare artefacts is soon set to unfold.

The Bloomfield Auction House in eastern Belfast regularly holds auctions of items ranging from silverware and vintage jewellery, to weapons like swords and bayonets, to fine art, various collectibles, and more.

They even have an auction of militaria, police and important Irish items that will occur this upcoming June 6th. It's a specialist online auction, one they have during select times of the year. Otherwise, the auctions occur weekly in person.

Among the items "going under the gavel" is a royal pardon handwritten and signed by Queen Victoria in 1869. It bears her personal signature and seal.

Royal pardons enable the withdrawal of a death sentence; alternatives can also be provided in the original sentence's case, like exile.

This particular pardon reportedly concerns Irish nationalist revolutionaries who were sentenced to death after being involved in a rise-up against British rule. Among them was the Irishman, JFX O'Brien, who would later become the President of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and the MP of Cork.

JFX O'Brien - photo credit: William Griffith Honey, Jan. 1st, 1894 (Wikipedia Commons)

The document is lauded as an insight to the English criminal justice system and the excision of mercy by the monarch as she began to cultivate a new public image following Prince Albert's passing.

The pardon isn't the only piece of history going up for sale at the auction, nor is it the only piece making waves in the news cycle. Besides a PSNI peaked cap worn by the former Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan and a gun from a 5th Battalion Irish Volunteer soldier, there is a a treaty with notes written by Irish unionist leader Edward Carson.

Like the pardon, the treaty is a valuable insight into Irish history - it's a copy of the Articles of Agreement between Great Britain and Ireland and offers a "first-hand insight into the inner workings" of a crucial political figure of Ireland's past.

Additionally, many people have taken note that a pen apparently gifted to Adolf Hitler by his lover Eva for his 52nd birthday is listed among the items to be bid upon. It's continued to gain a plethora of media attention before the auction commences.

Find Bloomfield Auction House's page here:

Find an online gallery displaying what is up for auction on Bloomfield Auction House's FaceBook, here: