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  • Posts Tagged ‘James Adam Country House Collections’

    ARMADA TABLE SELLS FOR 360,000 AT HAMMER

    Tuesday, October 16th, 2018

    The Armada Table

    THE Armada Table of the O’Briens became the most expensive piece of Irish furniture ever sold at auction in Ireland today when it was knocked down for a hammer price of 360,000.  The 430 year old table made from wood from Spanish Armada galleons washed up on the Clare coast was the subject of competitive bidding in the room and on the internet at the James Adam Country House Collections sale at Townley Hall in Drogheda. The Armada Table is described by The Knight of Glin in Irish Furniture (Yale, 2007) as one of the most important and earliest pieces of Irish furniture.

    In autumn 1588 as many as 27 ships of the Spanish Armada were lost off the Irish coast, two off the west Clare coast. Boethius Clancy, High Sheriff of Clare had the table made and later gifted it to the O’Briens of Lemenagh, Co. Clare. It has been owned by them ever since, passing by descent through the O’Brien Clan to the current Lord Inchiquin, 18th Baron. The table was relocated from Lemenagh Castle to Dromoland Castle after 1660, remaining there until 1962 when it was removed to Bunratty Castle. Lord Inchiquin made the decision to sell the table with regret.  It had been estimated by Adams at 100,000-200,000.  The table was bought by a private buyer and will be remaining in Ireland.

    There were exceptional prices achieved at the sale. An Irish George III mahogany breakfront bookcase with a top estimate of 20,000 made a hammer price of 75,000.  An Irish George II side table made 37,500 and a George III dining table sold for 26,000.

    The gross total for the sale was 2.15 million.

    WIDE SELECTION OF COUNTRY HOUSE ITEMS AT TOWNLEY SALE

    Thursday, October 5th, 2017

    Artworks, furniture, porcelain, silver and collectors effects all feature at the annual James Adam Country House Collections sale at Townley Hall on October 10 at 11 a.m.  Lot 479, for example, is a pair of enormous mid 19th century Sevres vases estimated at around 7,000.  Viewing gets underway on October 7.  The catalogue is online. Here is a small selection:

    An Irish Victorian Carlton House desk (10,000-15,000)  UPDATE: THIS MADE 8,500 AT HAMMER

    Irish George II card table (4,000-6,000)  UPDATE: THIS MADE 3,600 AT HAMMER

    A Brussels style wall hanging, The Baptism of Clovis (10,000-15,000)  UPDATE:THIS MADE 8,000 AT HAMMER

    A skull and antlers of a great Irish deer (10,000-15,000)  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 9,500 AT HAMMER

    A Georgian door lock (1,500-2,500)  UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,600 AT HAMMER