No. 472 NAI DFA Secretary's Files P135

Letter from Seán Nunan to Frederick H. Boland (Dublin)

Washington DC, 24 January 1948

In one of the clippings from the Irish Press, the 19th I think, which came to hand yesterday by air mail, there is an interview with Mrs. Kathleen (Boland) O'Donovan1 concerning the Russian jewels2 and, as you will see, her statement differs from my memory of the matter as cabled to you the other day.

The report states that the late Harry Boland3 returned to Ireland on St. Stephen's Day, 1921. This is wrong, as we came back together and on Stephen's Day we were in New York at a farewell dinner given by a group of friends at the McAlpin Hotel, at which a presentation of a silver loving cup was made to Harry and a silver cigar box to me. Mine is inscribed with the date - 26th December 1921 - and I think Harry's cup was, also.

We left New York on the 27th of December, and arrived in Dublin about the 5th or 6th of January, 1922. That, however, is a minor matter. What disturbs me is that my memory of what happened to the jewels, after we got to Dublin, differs so much from Kathleen's, as I distinctly remember going with Harry into Mick Collins'4 office at Earlsfort Terrace (the Dáil was debating the Treaty at the time of our arrival) and seeing Harry hand the packet to Mick. What happened to the packet after that, I cannot say. It may have been that Mick gave them back to Harry for some reason and that he then brought them to his house.

The description of the pieces given by Kathleen - particularly the cluster - fits in perfectly with my memory of them.

I mention this matter, not to contradict Kathleen, but to try to get the whole picture straight.

[handwritten postscript by Nunan]
Kathleen (Boland) O'Donovan confirmed to me on the 26/4/50 that my memory of this transaction was correct so far as the handing over to Collins of the jewels was concerned. She added that later that night, Harry and Mick had a disagreement and that Mick gave the jewels and the receipt which he had previously given to Harry - back to him.

S. Nunan 28/4/50

1 Kathleen (Boland) O'Donovan, sister of Harry Boland.

2 See DIFP I, Nos. 33, 51 and 88. The jewels, valued at £25,000 and which turned out to be costume jewellery, were next to worthless and had been given by the Soviet Representative in New York to Dáil Éireann diplomat Harry Boland in 1920 as collateral against a $20,000 loan to the Soviet government. The loan was repaid by the Soviet Union in 1949.

3 Harry Boland (1887-1922), TD, Dáil Éireann representative to the United States of America (May 1920-January 1922), opposed the Treaty and was killed during the Civil War.

4 Michael Collins (1890-1922), TD, Minister for Home Affairs (January-April 1919), Minister for Finance (April 1919-August 1922), IRA Director of Intelligence (1919-1921), member of the Irish Treaty delegation, Chairman of the Provisional Government (January-August 1922), Commander in Chief of the National Army (July-August 1922), killed on 22 August 1922.


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