A large royal blue ground Donegal carpet inscribed with a harp, a gold link border and Celtic motifs comes up at Mealy’s one day sale in Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny on July 15. The New Ireland carpet, measuring 13.7 metros by 5 metres, was a complex commission by New Ireland Assurance for their Dublin office in 1964. The medallion detail is 64 knots per square inch as against 16 in the main body. The junction is imperceptible and the carpet is estimated at 15,000-25,000. In its heyday the Donegal Factory, at Killybegs, supplied carpets to the Oval Office and Buckingham Palace.
A late 19th century cut granite Irish fountain is estimated at 20,000-30,000. The sale features a monumental William IV side table estimated at 15,000-20,000 and a full sized billiard table among more than 600 lots. The catalogue is online.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for July 8, 2015).
The New Ireland Donegal carpet. UPDATE: THIS MADE A HAMMER PRICE OF 18,000
A large 19th century Irish cut granite fountain. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD