COMPOSITION BY MAINIE JELLETT (1897-1944) MADE 16,000 AT HAMMER
Composition, a gouache on paper by Mainie Jellett, made a hammer price of 16,000 over a top estimate of 5,000 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish art online auction this evening. Among other top hammer prices were: Poplars in the Jura Valley by Letitia Marion Hamilton (10,500); On a Run by Montague Dawson (8,000); Cradle by Sean Scully (7,500); Woman of Aran by Sean Keating (6,600); Yellow Rabbit II by Basil Blackshaw (6,200): An Irish Village by Markey Robinson (6,200) and Painting by Evie Hone (6,000).
18TH CENTURY CORK GEORGE III SILVER SAUCE BOAT, BY JOHN SHEEHAN. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,550 AT HAMMER
This c 1770 heavy silver sauce boat by John Sheehan, Cork comes up at Hegarty’s online sale in Bandon on July 31. With punch mark details to the rim, triple scroll handle and tripod legs it weighs 262 grams. The estimate is 1,500-2,000. The auction offers a selection of garden furniture, art, antiques, silver and collectibles including an Edwardian secretaire bookcase, a vintage cast iron garden seat, a pair of Cantonese double gourd vases and a vintage iron armillary spear on corinthian column base.
The US-European shipping archive of The Widow Bermingham & Sons. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
A lock of Michael Collins hair, a large Tara brooch, the first edition of the 1843-44 Ordnance Survey Atlas of Co. Limerick, a Historic Guide to the White House, 1963 signed by John F. Kennedy, a 1912 Louth All Ireland football winners medal, a first printing of de Valera’s new Constitution signed by the cabinet and a rare lady’s blue shirt uniform all feature at Fonsie Mealy’s rare book and collectors sale in Castlecomer on July 28 and 29.
Sales like this offer all kinds of everything, from Jack B Yeats illustrations to rare Harry Potter editions, a heavy Webley .44 revolver believed to have belonged to John MacBride, an Irish 20 pence trial piece coin from 1985 and a collection of long playing records signed by Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Roy Rogers and Frankie Laine.
A lock of Michael Collins’s hair. UPDATE: THIS MADE 4,400
The early US/European 19th century maritime shipping papers of the St. Sebastian Basque trading company for The Widow Bermingham & Sons is, at €7,000-€10,000, the most expensively estimated lot. The Berminghams were a prominent Galway family, some of whom emigrated to San Sebastian to establish a shipping agency. These original, unresearched papers from 1800-14 provide details of the issues faced by early shipping entrepreneurs during the Napoleonic Wars and the Barbary War.
The Blueshirts – the paramilitary organisation of the Irish Free State many of whose members went on to fight for the nationalists in Spain – did not have women on board. Membership was subsequently opened to those who had not served in the armed forces but the woman’s blue shirt with elasticated waist, Fine Gael badge and Army Comrades insignia is an extremely rare item (€3,000-€4,000).
The lock of hair was given after the death of Michael Collins to his friend Felix Cronin and is estimated at €5,000-€7,000. A veteran of the War of Independence and the Civil War he married Kitty Kiernan three years after the death of Collins in 1922. Lot 634 is a collection of eight Irish army brass uniform buttons complete with a letter from Michael Collins Powell to General O’Duffy dated 27/1/33 asking for a receipt for the enclosed: “found in Michael’s pocket, August 22nd, 1922”. Mary Collins Powell was a sister of Michael Collins. The estimate is €7,000-€10,000.
A large Tara Brooch in 18 carat gold UPDATE: THIS MADE 6,000
A large Tara brooch in 18 carat gold by Hopkins and Hopkins, Dublin is estimated at €5,000-€6,000. It belonged to Alice Milligan, poet and playwright and founder of the influential Shan Van Vhoct periodical.
A copy of Some Experiences of an Irish R M and other books by Edith Somerville and signed by her in 1948 are estimated at €120-€180. Collectors interested in travel will be interested in an 1825 book entitled The Pleasure Tours in Ireland (€160-€220), an 1812 book of Illustrations of the Scenery of Killarney and the Surrounding Country (€150-€200), Vanishing Dublin by Flora Mitchell (€200-€300), Life in the West of Ireland by Jack B. Yeats (€400-€600) and a good album of 300 original postcards of Cork city, Bandon, Queenstown, Crosshaven and Ballycotton (€600-€800).
The catalogue with 831 lots is online and there will be viewing in Castlecomer from 1 pm to 5 pm tomorrow and from 10 am to 5 pm on Monday. Sales are at 11 am sharp on Tuesday and Wednesday.
A first Australian edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,150 AT HAMMER
From Gold Medals to posters the Olympic Games spawn collectibles that turn up at auction many years later. These games are no exception. The posters for the Paris Olympics use a diptych design to bring together Olympism and Paralympism. Each one can work independently or in combination to form a seamless image to tell the story of the Paris games.
Created by the French illustrator Ugo Gattoni they are rich in detail and depict a fantasy city that serves as a gigantic stadium with famous monuments, symbols of France, different sports and various venues. Among the symbols of the games are the Olympic Rings, the Olympic Flame and Stoke Mandeville hospital in the UK. In 1948 at the opening of the London Games Dr. Ludwig Guttmann organised the first competition for wheelchair athletes which he named the Stoke Mandeville Games. In the post war period it involved 16 injured servicemen and one woman. Out of this grew the paralympics with the first games taking place in Rome in 1960.
19th century Irish yew wood centre table. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
This 19th century Irish centre table in yew wood is at Sean Eacrett’s July fine art and antiques sale which gets underway at 10 am on July 27. Complete with brass inlaid top and rectangular platform base the auctioneer reckons it was probably made in Killarney. The estimate is 1,000-1,500 and this is the most expensively estimated piece in an auction of more than 800 lots including 264 lots of traditional and contemporary furniture. The catalogue is online.
First Printing of De Valera’s new Constitution, approved by referendum in 1938. UPDATE: THIS MADE 10,500
An important copy of de Valera’s new Constitution, approved by referendum in 1938 and signed by all ten members of his 1938 cabinet comes up at Fonsie Mealy’s summer rare books and collectors sale in Castlecomer on July 30 and 31. The special printing on heavy paper finely bound in dark green patinated morocco is estimated at 7,000-9,000. It is signed by Seán T. Ó Ceallaigh, Oscar Traynor, Patrick Lynh, P.J. Rutledge, Sean F. Lemass, Séamus Ó Riain, Tomás Ó Deirg, Gearóid Ó Beoláin, Frank Aiken, Seán MacEntee, Patrick J. Little and Attorney General Patrick Lynch.
Only a handful of copies were prepared with all the signatures, one for each cabinet member, and a few went to favoured members of the diplomatic corps; an unsigned copy went to Áras an Uachtaráin.. No more than two or three signed copies have come to light in recent years.
Fenders are having a moment at auction in Ireland. This good quality brass club fender made 2,000 at hammer on the opening night of Victor Mee’s three day decorative interiors and art sale in Belturbet, Co. Cavan last night. Just last week a large Cork regency brass fender made 1,300 at hammer at Sheppards three day sale of contents from St. Austins, Gorey, Co. Wexford. And a brass and leather club fender made 1,500 at last nights sale. The auction by Victor Mee continues this evening and tomorrow.
CECIL MAGUIRE (1930-2020) – Pucain (1988). UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,900 AT HAMMER
Pucain, an oil on board by Cecil Maguire, comes up as lot 8 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s current Irish art online auction. The sale runs until July 29. The Pucan is a smaller class of Galway Hooker popular in Ireland with a lug mainsail and foresale and is entirely open. The Galway Hooker is a traditional fishing boat used off the west coast of Ireland and developed for the strong seas there. There is a revival of interest in these boats, which are still being constructed. This painting, estimated at €1,000-€1,500, has aroused significant interest too and has attracted 18 bids so far.
Dono sofa by Rolf Benz. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,400 AT HAMMER
Untitled Blue by Basil Blackshaw (€2,000-€4,000) heads the summer online auction of more than 150 lots of art and design at de Veres. A Rolf Benz sofa in red leather with integrated coffee table is the leading design lot and is estimated at €1,000-€2,000. The timed online auctions runs until July 24. UPDATE: THE BLACKSHAW MADE 1,300 AT HAMMER.
Exceptional wrought iron conservatory in the Victorian style. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
The three day auction by Victor Mee next week is the sort of sale where bidders at all price points can let the imagination run riot. An exceptional wrought iron Victorian style conservatory (€20,000-€30,000) might be just the thing for a buyer with big bucks. On the other hand a pair of brass electrified wall lights from the Orient Express at just €100-€200 should be within reach of most buyers.
The decorative interiors and garden sale live online on July 23, 24 and 25 at 5.30 pm on each day offers more than 1,300 lots and even includes a collection of rare gold coins and bullion.
A large Italian carved and patinated wood console table in the Neoclassical style UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD. The Maison Jansen table lamp made 1,500 at hammer
There is a selection of Italian pieces including two quality carved and patinated wood consoles in the Neoclassical style (€2,000-€4,000 each), a carved demi-lune console table with verde antico marble top (€2,000-€4,000), a selection of framed pressed flowers dated 1913 in patinated wooden frames (€500-€800), a brass cushion mirror (€300-€600), two circular Italian designer gilt wall mirrors (€300-€600) and a pair of Italian patinated pine table lamps (€150-€250).
Pair of Orient Express electrified wall lights. UPDATE: THESE MADE 400 AT HAMMER
The sale offers lots of scope to set the imagination free outdoors too, especially useful in a summer like this when the efforts of so many gardeners have been frustrated by the weather. Statues, fountains, carved lions, bronze animals, terracotta urns in rococo style, wrought iron gazebos with ivy leaf decoration, fire pits, sundials and birdbaths won’t suffer from stormy weather like tender plants do. They add interest in all seasons. The selection of outdoor stuff in this sale is extensive and ranges in style from ancient to contemporary.
Anyone for a 19th century Carrara marble carved outdoor bath or a large carved limestone wall fountain? How about an attractive bronze sculpture of flying ducks in bullrushes or a bronze sculpture of a figure in the style of Henry Moore. Unusual and distinctive lots like these can be found here, and much more besides.
An Irish Georgian mahogany and brass door lock. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
An Irish Georgian door lock is always of interest to collectors. A statuary marble fireplace with jasper inlay, a pair of granite gate posts, an Irish Georgian brass grate and a 19th century wrought iron field gate will create much interest among particular categories of bidder.
There is furniture to appeal to a variety of tastes, from a spiral brass bound peat bucket and military campaign chests to a French painted pine pantry cupboard, an Italian walnut credenza in Art Deco style, a 19th century Swedish painted pine two door cabinet, a folding butlers tray coffee table, an Irish oak settle bench, a Japanese lacquered work table, an Art Nouveau painted pine arch, a Venetian glass and giltwood chest of drawers, a Killarney wood bible box and a bleached oak kitchen table on turned legs with a single stretcher.
This is a sale where you can easily find something different to add interest either inside or outside. The catalogue is online. Enjoy the hunt.
