It all began with a small boy, like so many small boys, becoming fascinated with stamps. This interest grew. Years later, the boy, then a young mining engineer travelling the world, began collecting Chinese snuff bottles. Eventually he would gather almost 1,000 of these marvellous little objects, in a variety of shapes and forms and colours made from a variety of materials.
It was the first stage in amassing a store of treasures which amounts to the richest, most breathtaking gift any one individual has presented to a nation that was not even his own. Sir Alfred Chester Beatty, who moved to Ireland in 1950, was born 125 years ago today. And tonight his fabulous collection goes on display in its dramatic new home in the Clock Tower Building at Dublin Castle. It includes Persian miniatures, Chinese rhinoceros horn cups, Japanese woodblock prints, jade books, Arabic, Persian and Turkish manuscripts (including more than 250 copies of Islam's sacred Koran), Biblical papyri dating from the early second century to the fourth century), Babylonian clay tablets (some dating from 2500 BC), Russian icons and Chinese dragon robes.
Centre stage
Not only does the move to Dublin Castle place the collection in a showcase gallery with the most advanced museum technology and educational aids, it brings it centre stage. While its previous home at Shrewsbury Road in Ballsbridge possessed dignity and grace, it must be acknowledged that the residential location did not attract visitors. People expect their libraries and galleries to be havens in the midst of urban bustle. The new gallery has the best of all worlds, just as the collection contains the best of many cultures.
But who was Chester Beatty, the genial American with an easy manner, incredible generosity and an eye for glorious art works, many of which testify to the central role man's various gods maintain in an array of cultures?
He was born into a wealthy New York family in 1875, the youngest of three sons. Minerals and rocks interested him as a schoolboy and he decided he would become a mining engineer. He studied at Princeton and later attended Columbia School of Mines, finishing top of the class with an 91 per cent average. But he was not physically robust. There were always concerns about his health and he was asthmatic at a time when this illness was even more serious than it is now. But he was also tenacious and determined to experience mining at first hand. He headed west.
Working underground in Denver, Colorado, he earned 25 cents for a 10-hour day. His stint as a miner left him with the lung disease silicosis; according to doctors, he had only a couple of years to live.
Modesty
Those who knew him always remarked on his modesty; he was not inclined to talk about himself but enjoyed playing host, watching others converse. There is, however, a good story he did like telling about the time he was faced with a claim jumper. "I carried a Colt in my boot so I roared at this fella who was trying to jump my claim: `You son-of-a-bitch, clear out and never let me see you again, or I'll let you have it.' " While working at a gold mine superintendent, Beatty got on the wrong side of some miners on strike, who forced him into a cage and let it drop to the bottom of the pit. Beatty was lucky to escape with his life a few seconds before the cage crashed.
By 1903 he was consulting engineer to mines in Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and the Utah Copper Company, then the largest producer of copper in the world. By the age of 29, Chester Beatty - he never liked the name Alfred - was chief mining consultant to 90 per cent of the world's mines. He would also contribute a new method of extracting copper from low-grade ore. So poor was his health, however, that in 1910, aged 35, he was refused a life insurance policy. The following year, his wife died, leaving him with two small children.
Already wealthy, he moved to London, bought Baroda House in Kensington Palace Gardens, and set up his own company. While expansion was initially affected by the outbreak of the first World War, it gathered momentum in its aftermath and projects took him to Ghana's Gold Coast, Sierra Leone, the Congo, even Russia. Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia, proved his most successful venture when, following the trail of W.C. Collier, a prospector who had written a book about his adventures there, Beatty successfully exploited copper reserves where others had failed.
British citizen
Meanwhile, his interest in the art of ancient civilisations, begun by a trip to Egypt in 1913 which introduced him to the riches of oriental manuscripts, was developing to a specialist level. In 1933 he became a British citizen and worked on various government committees. A change of government, and policies, prompted him to leave Britain and in 1950 he came to Dublin, which he had first visited 20 years earlier. His collection, by then amounting to some 35 tons, followed.
In time he would donate his Impressionist paintings to the National Gallery and his collection of oriental weapons to the Military College at the Curragh. The Chester Beatty Library opened in 1954.
Beatty, the first honorary citizen of Ireland, died in Monte Carlo on January 20th, 1968, three weeks before his 93rd birthday. He was given a state funeral and is buried in Glasnevin. The new gallery is a worthy showcase for his gift to Ireland and to the world of a truly magnificent collection which tells many stories.