# A History of Ireland in 100 Objects

A History of Ireland in 100 Objects was a joint project by The Irish Times, the National Museum of Ireland, and the Royal Irish Academy to define one hundred archaeological or cultural objects that are important in the history of Ireland. The objects are single man-made artefacts or documents, excluding buildings, ranging in date from about 5,000 BC (Mesolithic) to the early 21st century. Most of the objects are held in accessible collections in the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland.
Details of the hundred objects, written by Irish Times journalist Fintan O'Toole, were initially serialized in The Irish Times between February 2011 and January 2013. In February 2013 a book about the hundred objects written by O'Toole, entitled A History of Ireland in 100 Objects, was published, and it quickly became a best-seller with 35,000 free downloads.
In January 2017 An Post announced that a selection of the 100 objects would form the subjects for the 9th definitive postage stamp series for Ireland, to be issued over a period of five or six years from 2017. The first set of stamps featuring twelve of the objects were issued in January 2017, consisting of eight different SOAR (Stamps on a Roll) stamps with various values (€0.05 to €7.50), a range coil stamps, and a national (N) and an international (W) rate stamp booklet.

## List of objects

Objects for which there is a specific Wikipedia article are given in bold type.
| Number | Object | Date | Location | Postage stamp |
| 1 | Mesolithic fish trap | c. 5000 BC | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology, Dublin | Set 1, 2017 (SOAR) |
| 2 | Ceremonial axehead | 3600 BC | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | Set 1, 2017 (SOAR) |
| 3 | Neolithic bowl | c. 3500 BC | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | Set 1, 2017 (SOAR) |
| 4 | Flint macehead | 3300–2800 BC | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | Set 1, 2017 (SOAR) |
| 5 | Neolithic bag | 3800–2500 BC | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | |
| 6 | Basket earrings | c. 2300 BC | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | |
| 7 | Pair of gold discs | 2200–2000 BC | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | Set 1, 2017 ('N' rate) |
| 8 | Coggalbeg gold hoard | 2300–2000 BC | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | Set 1, 2017 (SOAR) |
| 9 | Bronze Age funerary pots | 1900–1300 BC | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | Set 1, 2017 (SOAR) |
| 10 | Tara torcs | c. 1200 BC | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | Set 1, 2017 (SOAR) |
| 11 | Mooghaun hoard | c. 800 BC | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology, and British Museum | |
| 12 | Gleninsheen gorget | c. 800–700 BC | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | Set 1, 2017 ('W' rate) |
| 13 | Castlederg bronze cauldron | 700–600 BC | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | Set 1, 2017 ('N' rate) |
| 14 | Iron spearhead | 800–675 BC | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | |
| 15 | Broighter boat | c. 100 BC | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | Set 1, 2017 (SOAR) |
| 16 | Old Croghan Man | 362–175 BC | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | Set 1, 2017 ('N' rate) |
| 17 | Loughnashade horn | c. 100 BC | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | |
| 18 | Keshcarrigan bowl | early-1st century | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | |
| 19 | The Corleck Head | 1st to 2nd century | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | |
| 20 | Petrie crown | 2nd century | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | |
| 21 | Cunorix stone | 460–75 | In situ | |
| 22 | St Patrick's Confessio | 21 | c. 460–90 | Trinity College, Dublin |
| 23 | Mullaghmast stone | 500–600 | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | |
| 24 | St Patrick's bell | c. 7th century | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | |
| 25 | Springmount wax tablets | late-6th century | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | |
| 26 | Ballinderry Brooch | c. 600 | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | |
| 27 | Donore handle | 700–20 | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | |
| 28 | Book of Kells | c. 800 | Trinity College | |
| 29 | Tara brooch | 8th century | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | |
| 30 | Ardagh chalice | 8th century | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | |
| 31 | Derrynflan paten | late-8th century | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | |
| 32 | Moylough Belt-Shrine | 8th or 9th century | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | |
| 33 | Rinnegan Crucifixion Plaque | 8th or 9th century | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | |
| 34 | Tall cross | late-9th century | Monasterboice, County Louth | |
| 35 | Oseberg ship | c. 815 | Museum of Cultural History, Oslo, Norway | |
| 36 | Ballinderry sword | mid-9th century | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | |
| 37 | Decorated lead weights | c. 900 | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | |
| 38 | Roscrea Brooch | late-9th century | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | |
| 39 | Slave chain | late-9th or early-10th century | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | |
| 40 | Silver cone | mid-10th century | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | |
| 41 | Carved crook | early-11th century | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | |
| 42 | Breac Maodhóg | late-11th century | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | |
| 43 | Clonmacnoise Crozier | 11th century | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | |
| 44 | Cross of Cong | early-12th century | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | |
| 45 | 'Strongbow's tomb' | 12th century | Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin | |
| 46 | Laudabiliter papal bull | 1155 | National Library of Ireland, Dublin | |
| 47 | Figure of a horseman | 13th century | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | |
| 48 | Domhnach Airgid | c. 1350 | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | |
| 49 | Waterford charter roll | 1215–1373 | Medieval Museum, Waterdord | |
| 50 | Two coins | 1280s and 1460 | National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts and History | |
| 51 | Processional cross | 1479 | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | |
| 52 | Magi Cope | c. 1470 | Medieval Museum, Waterdord | |
| 53 | De Burgo-O'Malley chalice | 1494 | National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts and History | |
| 54 | Kavanagh charter horn | 12th and 15th centuries | National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology | |
| 55 | Gallowglass gravestone | 15th or 16th century | Gaelic Athletic Association Museum, Dublin | |
| 56 | Book of Common Prayer | 1551 | Royal Irish Academy, Dublin | |
| 57 | Salamander pendant | c. 1588 | Ulster Museum, Belfast | |
| 58 | Morion | late-16th century | National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts and History | |
| 59 | Leac na ríogh | 10–15th century | Near Cookstown, County Tyrone | |
| 60 | Wassail bowl | late-16th century | Ulster Museum, Belfast | |
| 61 | Deposition on atrocities | 1641 | Trinity College | |
| 62 | O'Queely chalice | 1640 | National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts and History, Dublin | |
| 63 | Fleetwood cabinet | c. 1652 | National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts and History (now National Gallery of Ireland) | |
| 64 | Books of Survey and Distribution | mid-17th century | National Archives of Ireland, Dublin | |
| 65 | King William's gauntlets | c. 1690 | National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts and History | |
| 66 | Crucifixion stone | 1740 | National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts and History | |
| 67 | Conestoga wagon | 18th century | Ulster American Folk Park, County Tyrone | |
| 68 | Wood's halfpence | 1722 | National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts and History | |
| 69 | Dillon regimental flag | 1745 | National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts and History | |
| 70 | Rococo candlestick | c. 1745 | National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts and History | |
| 71 | Engraving of linen-makers | 1782 | Ulster Museum, Belfast | |
| 72 | Cotton panel | 1783 | National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts and History | |
| 73 | Pike | 1798 | National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts and History | |
| 74 | Act of Union blacklist | early-19th century | National Library of Ireland | |
| 75 | Penrose decanter | late-18th century | National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts and History | |
| 76 | Robert Emmet's ring | 1790s | National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts and History | |
| 77 | Wicker cradle | 19th–20th centuries | National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts and History | |
| 78 | Daniel O'Connell's 'chariot' | 1844 | Caherdaniel, County Kerry | |
| 79 | Stokes 'tapestry' | 1833–53 | National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts and History | |
| 80 | 'Captain Rock' threatening letter | 1842 | National Library of Ireland | |
| 81 | Empty cooking pot | 19th century | National Museum of Ireland – Country Life | |
| 82 | Emigrant's teapot | late-19th–mid-20th century | National Museum of Ireland – Country Life, County Mayo | |
| 83 | William Smith O'Brien gold cup | 1854 | National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts and History | |
| 84 | Parnell silver casket | 1844 | National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts and History | |
| 85 | Carlow Cathedral pulpit | 1899 | Carlow County Museum, County Carlow | |
| 86 | Youghal lace collar | 1906 | National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts and History | |
| 87 | Gaelic Athletic Association medal | 1887 | National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts and History | |
| 88 | Reclining Buddha | late-19th century | National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts and History | |
| 89 | Titanic launch ticket | May 1911 | Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, County Down | |
| 90 | River Clyde lamp | 1915 | National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts and History | |
| 91 | James Connolly's shirt | 1916 | National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts and History | |
| 92 | Rejected coin design | 1927 | National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts and History | |
| 93 | Boyne coracle | 1928 | National Museum of Ireland – Country Life | |
| 94 | Eileen Gray chair | 1926 | National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts and History | |
| 95 | Emigrant's suitcase | 1950s | National Museum of Ireland – Country Life | |
| 96 | Washing machine | 1950s | Irish Agricultural Museum, County Wexford | |
| 97 | Bloody Sunday handkerchief | 1972 | Museum of Free Derry, Derry | |
| 98 | Intel microprocessor | 1994 | National Science Museum at Maynooth, County Kildare | |
| 99 | Anglo Irish Bank sign | 2000–2011 | National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts and History | |
| 100 | Decommissioned AK-47 | 2005 | National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts and History | |