‘Irish tales collected from the Best authors now extant’, compiled by Matthew Moore Graham in 1835 made a hammer price of €20,000
A manuscript book of Irish tales compiled in 1835 by Matthew Moore Graham made a hammer price of €20,000 at the book sale by Purcell Auctioneers in Birr today. The estimate was €4,000-€6,000. Graham, who was an engineer, is best remembered as a translator of Irish poetry. A Cumann na mBan autograph book from 1922 made €2,500 at hammer over an estimate of €400-800. Antiquarian books, signed limited editions, vintage postcards and Irish botanical publications featured among more than 560 lots.
Jackson Pollock’s Number 7A, 1948, the top lot at auction so far made $181.2 million at Christie’s New York in May.
The resurgence in the art market continued in the first half of 2026. Christie’s reported first half revenues of $4.6 billion. Jackson Pollock’s Number 7A 1948 made $181.2 million at Masterpieces: The Private Collection of S.I. Newhouse in May and is the top lot sold at auction in the first half of 2026.
It has also been a record half year at Sotheby’s, which reported consolidated sales of $4.4 billion, a 58% increase over the first half of 2025. Auction sales at Sotheby’s reached an all time high of $3.4 billion with bidding from 119 countries across 170 auctions.
Oliver Barker, Sotheby’s chairman, Europe, selling Masterpieces from the Lewis Collection in London.
Discovered in 2021 on a remote ranch in South Dakota Gus became the most expensive T Rex ever sold at Sotheby’s in New York today. It is 67 million years old and made $50.1 million. The bones were excavated over three summers.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for July 11, 2026)
Mainie Jellett (1897-1944) – Study for Fra Angelico/Announciation
This gouache and watercolour on card by Mainie Jellett is lot 18 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish art online auction which runs until Monday, July 20. Study for Fra Angelico/Announciation is signed and dated 1927. It was once in the collection of artist Genevieve de Cissey. The estimate is €5,000-€7,000. The work was exhibited in the acclaimed exhibition The Art of Friendship: Mainie Jellett and Evie Hone at the National Gallery of Ireland in 2025.
Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) – Woman Seen from the Back at the National Gallery. Image courtesy National Gallery of Ireland In celebration of Ireland’s EU Presidency an exhibition of around 50 works on paper by artists from across Europe is at the National Gallery from July 18 – December 6. Rembrandt to Matisse – A Celebration of European Works on Paper features drawings, prints, watercolours and photographs from the 15th century to the present day. The exhibition showcases the strength of the holdings of our National Gallery across various European schools
Spring by William Crozier. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £10,880 including premium.
A collection of artworks by William Crozier will lead Bonhams Modern British and Irish art sale at Knightsbridge in London at noon on July 15. The leading lot is a classical Crozier work entitled Spring, an oil on canvas painted in 1998. The estimate is £10,000-£15,000 (€12,000-€18,000). The sale offers five from a group of six oils by Crozier commissioned by corporate collection in the UK, along with art by Nicholas Hely Hutchinson, Augustus John, Gwen John, Sir William Orpen, Micheal MacLiammoir and Anne Magill.
UPDATE: The most expensive of the Croziers sold was The Plant Room which made £15,360, The Entrance made £10,240, New Field made £8,320 and Meon Valley made £5,120. All prices quoted include premium. A watercolour pen and ink drawing by Michael MacLiammoir made £2,816 over a top estimate of £1,700.
A pair of large Italian Tuscany villa gates at Victor Mee. UPDATE: THESE MADE 4,000 AT HAMMER
A fine pair of large forged iron gates from a villa in Tuscany might set the scene nicely now that climate change is upon us. This decorated and atmospheric pair, complete with two side pedestrian entrance gates and scroll design side pillars, is at Victor Mee’s online summer garden sale on July 15 with an estimate of €6,000-€8,000.
An original red telephone box, an 18th century industrial cast iron cider press, 21 square metres of Bert and May reclaimed floor tiles in a geometric Art Deco pattern of predominantly greys and an early 19th century metal three legged pot are among the collectibles at this sale of 733 lots. A large bronze buddha, sandstone troughs, fountains, granite seats, bronze fighting hares, sculpture, stone walls, seated stone lions, urns, gazebos, planters, spheres and staddle stones will come under the hammer.
Reclaimed geometric floor tiles at Victor Mee. UPDATE: THESE WERE UNSOLD
The market for collectibles is strong in Ireland and internationally. The late billionaire Jim Irsay, owner of the Indianapolis Colts, collected all sorts of objects with wealthy discrimination. His collection made more than $100 million over five sales at Christie’s this year, the largest sale total in history for memorabilia. At the last of those sales last week the foundation document for Alcoholics Anonymous made $2.39 million (€2.09 million) with proceeds going to charitable causes. He had amazing stuff, like a signed letter from George Washington to Thomas Jefferson ($2.7 million – €2.36 million) and a pair of used dress circle theatre tickets for the night of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination ($330,000 – €262.17).
In Ireland the market for collectible memorabilia has grown and grown. Everything from old road signs to enamel cigarette advertising panels to petrol pumps and vintage toys are features at auction up and down the country. Uniqueness and rarity add value, but many items can be picked up for a song.
A Shell fibreglass petrol pump globe at Aidan Foley’s sale. UPDATE: THIS MADE 240 AT HAMMER
Pints to Pistons is the title of Aidan Foley’s online evening sales in Doneraile on July 13 and 14. There is a strong focus on pub and motor trade memorabilia with a big selection of enamel signs, oil stands, original petrol pump globes, advertising signs, mirrors and prints. All are highly reflective of an Ireland that was up to quite recently and now is no more.
Without any doubt there will be much interest in lots like an original enamel Paddy Whiskey advertising sign in a wooden frame, a Shell fibreglass petrol pump globe, a Michelin Man ashtray, a Player’s Please jug, a Duckham’s metal forecourt oil display stand and an Esso Extra two litre can. Once ubiquitous items like these have all but disappeared from life in Ireland.
With signs for everything from Agfa Photos and Robin Starch to Capstan cigarettes, St. Bruno Flake and Churchman’s Noted Counter Shag there is plenty here to reminisce about and encourage a trip down memory lane. Catalogues for all sales are online.
An enamel double sided tobacco sign at Aidan Foley’s sale. UPDATE: THIS MADE 190 AT HAMMER AND WENT TO A BUYER IN AUSTRALIA
One of the largest and most complete T Rex specimens ever discovered is set to become the most valuable dinosaur ever at auction at Sotheby’s in New York on July 14. Gus, a 67 million year old Tyrannosaurus Rex, is estimated at $20 million – $30 million (€17.48 million – €26.22 million). Excavated over field seasons in 2021, 2022, and 2023 the fossil was discovered by Thomas Heitkamp and his team on land owned by the late Gary “Gus” Licking, a cattle rancher in Harding County, South Dakota. After years of finding teeth and bone fragments on his land Licking brought in the professionals, who named discovery after him. Gus has a body length of around 38 feet and a height of twelve and a half feet. Photo credit Matthew Sherman.
A silkscreen print by John Ffrench (1928-2010) at Adams. UPDATE: THIS MADE 460 AT HAMMER
The timed online picture sale at Adam’s which ends from 11 am on July 14 offers a highly affordable selection of everything from pencil drawings by Mainie Jellett and prints by Anne Madden and Alice Maher to mixed media and charcoal works by Barrie Cooke and a lithograph by Tony O’Malley. The sale kicks off with a selection from Swedish born ceramicist, sculptor, graphic artist and designer Marianne Agren McElroy (1926-2006), an original creative voice in the Ireland of the 1950’s, ’60’s and ’70’s. Auction estimates range from €50 to €5,000. The silkscreen print by John Ffrench illustrated here has an estimate of €200-€400. Many lots are offered without a reserve.
Yeats Family Violin. Labelled D. Nicolas Ainé Mirecourt’ c1810-20.
Lot 479 at the sale by Dominic Winter auctioneers in Cirencester on July 16 is an early 19th-century French Mirecourt violin, from the private collection of the family of Nobel Prize-winning Irish poet W. B. Yeats. The violin was acquired by ‘Chapel Violins’ from the Yeats Family Collection auction conducted by Fonsie Mealy Auctioneers in Castlecomer in November 2017. It was from the Dalkey home of Michael Yeats (1921–2007), a former senator and the son of W. B. Yeats (1865-1939) and his wife the harpist Gráinne Yeats (1925–2013). Since its acquisition, the violin has remained on display within the ‘Chapel Violins’ workshop as part of its private collection, where it has served as an example of exceptional early French violin-making and also as an instrument connected with one of Ireland’s most celebrated literary families. The estimate is £6,000-£8,000.
