A cased pair of Japanese porcelain tea bowls decorated with foliage and the gilt mythological bird known as Fenghuang presented to Princess Michiko at a tennis tournament come up at Hegarty’s online only auction of antique furniture, art, jewellery and collectibles in Bandon on February 28. The lot includes a black and white photograph of the princess inscribed with the year 1961. Four years earlier Michiko Shoda played a game of mixed doubles against then Crown Prince Akihito. It was and it wasn’t a love match. The Crown Prince lost the match and his heart. Michiko won the prince and the game. Their wedding marked the first time in the 2,600+ years of the Yamato dynasty that someone born neither a princess nor an aristocrat married into the Imperial household. The bowls are estimated at €400-€600. If that story has struck some sort of romantic chord then how about a vintage square cut yellow sapphire and diamond ring. Hegarty’s has just the one, estimated at €5,000-€7,000. Among other lots of note is a pair of matching 19th century inlaid cutlery urns (€8,000-€10,000) and a watercolour by Douglas Alexander titled Among the Crohyboyle Mountains (€2,000-€4,000). There is an Art Deco peridot and diamond ring (€5,000-€9,000), an Italian Art Deco silver ice bucket (€3,500-€7,000) and an Edwardian Sheraton Revival sideboard (€1,000-€2,000). The sale offers one of the first three printings of the trade editions of The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter (€800-€1,500). The March 1903 version includes all 30 illustrations, mostly by Quentin Blake, reduced to 27 thereafter.
