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    • Archive for May, 2015

    HISTORIC ALL-IRELAND HURLING CHAMPIONSHIP MEDALS

    Friday, May 8th, 2015

    A collection of three historic All-Ireland Hurling medals won by Kilkenny between 1907 and 1913 and a medal from Clare’s first All-Ireland title in 1914 are among the sporting rarities at Fonsie Mealy’s rare book and collectors sale at the Ormonde Hotel, Kilkenny on May 19.  The John T. Power collection of three nine carat gold medals are each inscribed with the years 1907, 1911 and 1913, Kilkenny’s first three in a row.  The set is estimated at 10,000-15,000.  In 1914 Clare beat Laois in the 15th year of the championship to claim their first All-Ireland Hurling title.  The nine carat gold medal of Celtic Cross design from this championship, inscribed “won by Clare” is estimated at 7,000-10,000.  The catalogue for the sale lists 747 lots and is online.

    The John T. Power All-Ireland medal collection, Kilkenny, 1917, 1911, 1913.

    The John T. Power All-Ireland medal collection, Kilkenny, 1917, 1911, 1913.  UPDATE: THESE SOLD FOR 40,000

    The nine carat gold Clare All-Ireland Hurling Championship title medal from 1914.

    The nine carat gold Clare All-Ireland Hurling Championship title medal from 1914.  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 9,750

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    GORY MEMENTO OF FRENCH REVOLUTION AT WHYTE’S

    Thursday, May 7th, 2015
    Lot 13 is the Tribunal Criminel death sentence.

    Lot 13 is the Tribunal Criminel death sentence. UPDATE: THIS WAS WITHDRAWN

    A gory memento of the French Revolution at Whyte’s sale of history and literature in Dublin on May 9 is a revolutionary Paris documentary death sentence dated May 21, 1793.  The document headed Tribunal Criminel passes the sentence of death on Manon Jeanne, formerly Baronne de Bois de Vauban. The sentence “Mort” in faded red ink and a large wax seal with the initials RF attached to the lower left hand corner with a green ribbon. The framed lot number 13 is estimated at 800-1,200.

    A Confederate Cavalry sabre from the American Civil War.

    A Confederate Cavalry sabre from the American Civil War.  UPDATE: THIS MADE 220

    An American Civil War Confederate cavalry sabre etched PDL for Peter D. Luneschloss is estimated at 150-200.

    A collection of five coloured maps of Russia and Poland dated 1785-1827 produced in France is estimated at 300-400.  (Update – these were unsold). Lot 57 is a rare 1803 pamphlet broadsheet from John Bull to Brother Patrick in Ireland looking for support against the Corsican imposter estimated at 150-200. (Update – this sold for 200 at hammer).

    A 1915 recruitment poster with a cheerful looking soldier with the words: “Come along boys, enlist today” and suggesting:  “The moment the order came to go forward there were smiling faces everywhere” published by the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee in London is estimated at 100-150. (Update – this sold for 180). There are 388 lots in total and the catalogue is online.

    (See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for May 4, May 2 and April 11, 2015).

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    CHURCHILL’S VICTORY WATCH AT SOTHEBY’S

    Thursday, May 7th, 2015

    A unique Victory watch commissioned for Sir Winston Churchill – one of four created for the Allied Leaders after the Second World War – comes up at Sotheby’s on September 22.  The others were presented to Charles de Gaulle, Joseph Stalin, and Henry Truman. Estimated at £60,000–100,000 it features an enamel dial showing St. George slaying the dragon, with a trident as the hour hand.  ‘V’ for Victory is engraved on the back of case with a personalized dedication: “1939 – Prime Minister Winston Spencer Churchill – 1945”.

    Commissioned by a group of prominent Swiss citizens the timepiece was much treasured by Churchill. It was designed by Louis Cottier, who invented the world time mechanism, in collaboration with manufacturer Agassiz and Co. Cottier made the same complication for some of the most celebrated manufacturers like Patek Philippe, Rolex and Vacheron Constantin. This vintage and historic piece will be a highlight at Sotheby’s reintroduction of watch sales in London next September.

    UPDATE: IT SOLD FOR £485,000

    Sir Winston Churchill’s unique and historically important yellow gold World time Victory watch, Agassiz and Louis Cottier, circa 1945. Copyright Sotheby’s.

    Sir Winston Churchill’s unique and historically important yellow gold World time Victory watch, Agassiz and Louis Cottier, circa 1945. Copyright Sotheby’s.  UPDATE: IT SOLD FOR £485,000

    Sir Winston Churchill’s unique and historically important yellow gold World time Victory watch, Agassiz and Louis Cottier, circa 1945. Copyright Sotheby’s

    Sir Winston Churchill’s unique and historically important yellow gold World time Victory watch, Agassiz and Louis Cottier, circa 1945. Copyright Sotheby’s

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    TODAY IS THE CENTENARY OF THE SINKING OF THE LUSITANIA

    Thursday, May 7th, 2015
    Lusitania.

    Lusitania.

    Today marks the centenary of the sinking of the Lusitania, which was torpedoed by a German U-boat and sunk off the coast of Cork on May 7, 1915.  This caused the deaths of 1,198 passengers and crew.  There are commemorations of the loss of the Cunard Liner in various locations in County Cork today, including lifeboat stations and at Cobh, where many of the survivors were taken.  Cobh, then Queenstown, was an important transatlantic port and recovered bodies were brought ashore and buried in a mass grave here.  Lifeboats powered only by oarsmen set out for the site of the sinking eleven miles off the southern coast and within sight of the Old Head of Kinsale.  She had left New York for Liverpool on May 1, but sank within eighteen minutes of being torpedoed following a second, internal explosion.  Among those who died was Sir Hugh Lane, the art dealer, collector and gallery director. He  is best known for establishing Dublin’s Municipal Gallery of Modern Art – now the Hugh Lane – the first known public gallery of modern art in the world.

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    GIACOMETTI’S DEFINING GESTURE AT CHRISTIE’S

    Thursday, May 7th, 2015

    Giacometti’s L’homme au doigt (Pointing Man) is set to become the most expensive sculpture ever sold at auction at Christie’s curated sale in New York on May 11.  It is widely recognized as one of the most important sculptural achievements of the Modern era. Giacometti conceived the work in 1947 and made just six casts of it plus one artist’s proof. It is estimated at $130 million.  Here is a video from Christie’s about the work.

    UPDATE: IT SOLD FOR $141,285,000 TO BECOME THE MOST VALUABLE SCULPTURE EVER SOLD AT AUCTION

    (See post on antiquesandartireland.com for April 15, 2015).

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    VAN GOGH, MONET LEAD SOTHEBY’S $368 MILLION SALE

    Wednesday, May 6th, 2015
    Vincent van Gogh, L'Allee des Alyscamps

    Vincent van Gogh, L’Allee des Alyscamps

    Vincent van Gogh’s vibrant L’Allee des Alyscamps  made $66.3 million at Sotheby’s in New York last year. It was the top lot in an Impressionist and Modern evening art auction that brought in $368.3 million over a pre-sale high estimate of $351 million.  Five bidders competed for the work, which had been estimated at in excess of $40 million.  It was sold to an Asian private collector.  Three of the top five lots of the night went to Asia.

    Monet’s Nympheas (Water Lillies) from 1905 was the second highest lot of the evening. It was sold to an American private collector for $54 million.  Five works by Monet totalled $115.4 million.

    All eleven pieces from the estate of Chicago businessman and philanthropist Jerome H. Stone found buyers, amounting to a total of $57.8 million. Alberto Giacometti’s Femme de Venise VI – the tallest from his standing female nude series – was held in the Stone collection for more than 20 years and sold for $16.2 million.

    Pablo Picasso’s Femme au chignon dans un fauteuil, which had remained in the Goldwyn Collection since 1956, made $29.9 million.  It set a record for a portrait by Picasso of his lover Francoise Gilot.  It was purchased by a major figure in the Chinese film industry: Wang Zhongjun, Chairman and co-founder of entertainment giant Huayi Brothers Media Group. Wang Zhongjun said: “I first fell in love with the painting and then I fell in love with its story. The Goldwyn family is legendary in our industry and in this one work, I can see not only Pablo Picasso’s genius, but also Samuel Goldwyn Sr.’s creative vision.”

    (See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for March 19, April 13 and April 29, 2015).

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    AN ICONIC FLOWER PAINTING BY GEORGIA O’KEEFFE

    Wednesday, May 6th, 2015
    Georgia O'Keeffe - White Calla Lily.

    Georgia O’Keeffe – White Calla Lily.  UPDATE: IT MADE $8,968,000

    An iconic flower painting by Georgia O’Keeffe, White Calla Lily, will lead Sotheby’s  American art auction in New York on May 20.  the artist kept the work in her own collection until her death in 1986.

    Between 1918 and 1932 O’Keeffe executed over 200 flower paintings, but it was arguably in the calla lily that the artist found her ideal motif, one that provided the perfect synthesis of subject and form that now defines her most celebrated work. White Calla Lily was acquired by the present owner in 1994 from Gerald Peters Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and has not been shown in public since. It is estimated at $8-12 million.

    The sale will feature 21 works by Martin Johnson Heade, Maxfield Parrish, Childe Hassam and more from a private collection, four paintings by Milton Avery and four works on paper by John Singer Sargent.

    UPDATE: IT SOLD FOR $8,968,000.  White Calla Lily follows the sale of Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1 for $44.4 million in Sotheby’s previous sale of American Art (November 2014), which set the current auction record for O’Keeffe as well as for any female artist

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    TARRY FLYNN AND AN IRON AGE STONE HEAD AT WHYTE’S

    Monday, May 4th, 2015

    With everything from an Iron Age stone head to a copy of Tarry Flynn signed by Patrick Kavanagh Whyte’s sale of history and literature in Dublin on May 9 lives up to its name.  Tbe catalogue, which is online, lists 399 lots. Lot 385, Tarry Flynn, published by the Devlin Adair Company, New York, 1949 is estimated at 150-200. It is inscribed “with best wishes to whoever reads it”.  The Iron Age stone head, in granite, dates from 500 BC to 500 AD and has an estimate of 3,000-5,000.  A 1788 grant of a bounty of £100 signed by King George III  is estimated at 150-200 and a Shelmalier Cavalry, Co. Wexford cross belt plate has an estimate of 1,500-2,000.  There are military medals, militia badges, regimental badges, postcards, weapons, uniforms, and a collection of 1916 newspapers reporting on the Rising and its aftermath in an auction that is brimful of interest.

    An Irish Iron Age stone head (3,000-5,000)

    An Irish Iron Age stone head (3,000-5,000) UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    An inscription by Patrick Kavanagh on Tarry Flynn.

    An inscription by Patrick Kavanagh on Tarry Flynn.  UPDATE; THIS MADE 1,000 AT HAMMER

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    KATHLEEN CLARKE’S 1916 BRONZE MEDAL AT ADAMS

    Sunday, May 3rd, 2015
    Kathleen Clarke with her 1916 Bronze Medal.

    Kathleen Clarke with her 1916 Bronze Medal. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    Kathleen Clarke’s 1916 bronze medal is the top lot at The History Sale at James Adam in Dublin on May 12. It is estimated at 25,000-35,000.  The  Limerick born widow of Tom Clarke, first signatory of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic, went on to become a TD, Senator and the first woman Lord Mayor of Dublin.

    Other lots include a 1662 edition of Robert Boyle’s New Experiments Physico-Mechanical with an appendix announcing the discovery of what came to be known as Boyle’s Law (600-800), a rare copy of Spensers The Faerie Queene London 1596 (3,000-5,000) books, treaties, trial reports, pamphlets, literature and a Michael Collins memorial issue of An Saorstat dated August 29, 1922.  The sale, in two sessions, will include a collection of rare early Irish maps and sea charts.

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    FLAMING JUNE UNDER THE HAMMER IN JULY

    Sunday, May 3rd, 2015
    FREDERIC, LORD LEIGHTON, P.R.A., R.W.S 1830-1896 STUDY FOR FLAMING JUNE Coiurtesy Sotheby's

    FREDERIC, LORD LEIGHTON, P.R.A., R.W.S
    1830-1896
    STUDY FOR FLAMING JUNE Coiurtesy Sotheby’s

    The only known head study for one of the most famous masterpieces of the nineteenth century has re-emerged 120 years after it was last reproduced in an art magazine in 1895. The important rediscovery of pencil and white chalk study for Frederic, Lord Leighton’s Flaming June provides the missing link in the preparatory work for the painting that has become known as ‘The Mona Lisa of the Southern Hemisphere’.  It is from the collection of Mary, Duchess of Roxburghe.

    The work was found hanging discreetly on a bedroom wall at West Horsley Place, her quintessentially English red-brick sixteenth-century mansion and 400-acre Surrey estate.  Contents from this extraordinary home – frozen in time – will be offered at Sotheby’s in London on May 27 and 28.  The drawing comes up at a separate sale of Victorian, Pre-Raphaelite and British Impressionist art in London on July 15.  It is estimated at £40,000-60,000. Pictures and objects brought together by the Crewe family, one of Britain’s greatest aristocratic families, were consolidated at West Horsley Place from numerous great houses across Britain. It is likely that the Leighton drawing was purchased from the artist’s studio after his death.  

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