These chairs are from a set of 12 plus two carvers which Sheppards will offer at their Legacy of the Big House sale in Durrow from September 24-26. Described as 19th century stately home chairs each one has a gadrooned crest rail above an upholstered panelled show framed back, and an upholstered seat, raised on turned and fluted legs to the fore. The estimate for lot 1162 is €5,000-€8,000. More than 1600 lots will come under the hammer. The catalogue for the auction is online and there will be viewing in Durrow from September 21 – 23.
Viewing us underway in Doneraile, Co. Cork for Aidan Foley’s two day onllne sale of antique furniture, art, interiors and outdoor furnishings on September 16 and 17. Art on offer includes a mixed media print work by Banksy of The Walled Off Hotel Bethlehem (€1,400-€1,600, a pencil sketch of A Day at the Races by Jack B Yeats (€800-€1,200), and art by John Butler Yeats, George Gillespie, Marie Carroll, Martin Finnin, Elizabeth Cope, Graham Knuttel and many more.
The top lot is a Killarney wood sewing table (€4,000-€6,000), there is also a Killarney wood box and a Killarney book slide and the sale offers Persian rugs, Tiffany style lamps, tractor seat high stools, vintage model ships, a pair of fern decorated cast iron garden seats and a 19th century marble and gilt consul table. The catalogue is online.
This Irish George IV gold freedom box presented in New Ross sold for £15,000 over a top estimate of £8,000 at Tennants in Yorkshire on September 13. The hinged cover with applied foliage and flower border is engraved with the arms of New Ross. It is inscribed underneath: ‘The Freedom of the Corporation of New Ross Presented to the Rev’d Ja’s Thomas O’Brien F.T., C.D. As a Testimonium of their high regard for his character as Scholar and a Gentleman 1827‘. It was almost certainly given to his daughter Dora Letitia O’Brien who married Lieutenant-Colonel Yarburgh George Lloyd-Greame (1840-1928) and by descent. The makers mark HF is possibly that of Henry Flavelle, Dublin 1826.
A silver-gilt snuff-box of very similar profile and with nearly identical borders by the same maker, set with a micromosaic depicting the Colosseum, is in the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert collection, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. There is a circular freedom box engraved with the New Ross coat of arms at the San Antonio Museum of Art in Texas.
In an era when the market for collectibles is expanding Cavan based Victor Mee Auctions has led the charge on pub memorabilia. Nostalgia is sure to reign supreme during three days of sales with over 1,400 lots on September 17, 18 and 19 from 6.30 pm on each day.
The lots on offer in this sale are freighted with memory. The way we lived then is making good business for auctioneers in Ireland. How about a rare 19th century Cadbury’s Chocolate mahogany and glass floor display cabinet from some long vanished sweetshop of yore? Or an early 20th century chrome National till of a sort that graced so many retail establishments, or even a Michelin Man.
19th century Cadbury’s floor display cabinet
A yellow Shell petrol pump complete with white scallop shell light and vivid red writing recalled filling stations up and down the country and Edward Hopper’s famous 1940 painting Gas. This too represents a vanished era but the petrol pumps Hopper depicts are selling Mobil.
The good news is that 21st century collectors like the sort of lot that was once to be found everywhere. “We’ve been doing the advertising and memorabilia for a long time now,” said Victor Mee. “It’s a very, very interesting area of antiques because there’s so much history, and in that there existed such competition. The variety of merchandise and advertising made over the eras makes hunting for rarities an exciting game”.
Mirrors advertising whiskey are always sought after and there is a share of them of offer in this auction. One off items like the 20th century Guinness mahogany bar back from The O’Conor Don pub in Marylebone, with a central mirror flanked by Guinness Harps, are unlikely to come our way again. This establishment claimed to be the oldest Irish pub in London. The estimate is €600-€1,200.
There are signs of damp on an old framed Allman’s Irish Whisky pure pot still framed advertising showcard. This memento of the rare old times in Bandon and beyond is estimated at just €400-€600.
Craven A cork tipped Virginia cigarettes advertising print: Will not affect your throat
If you thought social media misinformation was something new then lot 636 might inspire a rethink. A framed advertising card for Craven A Cork tipped Virginia cigarettes claims they will not affect your throat. The estimate here is €120-€220. The petrol pump is estimated at €3,700-€4,700, the Cadbury’s display cabinet at €3,000-€5,000, the chrome till at €800-€1,200 and the most expensively estimated lot is a 19th century McConnell’s Old Irish Whisky Cromac Distillery, Belfast mirror at €3,000-€6,000. What this sale has in spades is variety.
Allman’s Irish Whiskey Pure Pot Still framed advertising showcard
A timed auction of the Deborah Brown collection will be held at Adams in Dublin on October 1. Deborah Brown was an artist of international repute mostly unheard of in her own country even though her work was regularly included in survey exhibitions of contemporary Irish art, including a number of major touring exhibitions and at ROSC. A 1982 retrospective exhibition was shown at the Ulster Museum and in Dublin at the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art and there was a retrospective at the F.E. McWilliam Gallery in Banbridge in 2012/13.
The sale is a fascinating collection of works by artist friends and contemporaries, those who particularly influenced her career and the studio collection of Deborah’s own work. There is art by James Humbert Craig; Mainie Jellett, Evie Hone, Alice Berger Hammerschlag, T.P. Flanagan, William Scott and Basil Blackshaw.
After studying at Belfast College of Art and the NCAD in Dublin Deborah Brown moved to Paris in 1950. Experiences of modern French painting transformed her work. In 1951 she was invited to hold a one-person exhibition in Belfast, with a subsequent exhibition organised in Glasgow in 1955 by the British Council. This in-turn led to her 1956 solo exhibition at the Ulster Museum. In 1953, Deborah Brown began to exhibit with Victor Waddington in Dublin and the Mayfair Gallery in London in 1954. She exhibited with the Ulster Academy of Arts between 1946 and 1976 and the Society of Women Artists in London, the Women’s International Art Club and the Ulster Society of Women Artists. In the late 1950s, Deborah Brown’s work became completely abstract and she exhibited increasingly outside Ireland at the New Vision Centre Gallery, in London, the Free Painters Group and at the Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol. The catalogue for the sale is online.
Jeff Koons. – Balloon Monkey (Blue). Executed in 2006-2013.
Jeff Koons’ Balloon Monkey (Blue) will be offered by Christie’s as one of the highlights of the October Frieze Week 20th/21st Century London evening sale on October 9. With an estimate of £6,500,000 – 10,000,00 this sculpture is one of five unique versions (Red, Magenta, Blue, Yellow, and Orange).
It is to be installed in St James’s Square, adjacent to Christie’s Headquarters in London, from September 30 to October 9. The work comes to auction following the success of Balloon Monkey (Magenta) sold in 2022 for £10,136,500 and is an evolution of Koons’ renowned Celebration series which began in 1993. The series includes some of his most iconic creations — such as Balloon Dog (1994-2000).
This painting by Margaret Kent features at the 146th annual exhibition of the Dublin Painting and Sketching Club at the Town Hall space of the Windmill Quarter, Dublin 2 until September 21. More than 150 paintings are on display. In 2019 Margaret Kent was winner of The Irish Arts Review Award at the Water colour Society of Ireland annual Exhibition at Farmleigh Gallery. The club, which was formed in 1874, is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year and the exhibition is sponsored by auctioneers Whyte’s.
MAJELLA O’NEILL COLLINS (B.1964) – TOWARDS THE WEST OF SHERKIN
This 2023 oil on canvas by Majella O’Neill Collins comes up as lot 14 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s current off the wall online auction of Irish art which runs until September 16. The estimate is 1,200-1,800. More than 450 lots are on offer in this sale and the catalogue is online.
Mildred Anne Butler, 1858 – 1941 – A Sheltered Corner – Courtesy of National Museums NI, Ulster Museum Collection.
Mildred Anne Butler: At Home in Nature opens at the National Gallery of Ireland on September 14 and will run until next January 5. This new display of the art of one of Ireland’s first professional women artists is part of the Gallery’s broader effort to celebrate the contributions of Irish women artists. It showcases 16 watercolours, drawn from public and private collections across the island of Ireland, along with a selection of archival material, on loan from Trinity College Dublin, which provide further insights into her life as a working artist. Mildred Anne Butler was born and raised at Kilmurry, a grand mid-18th-century manor house near Thomastown, County Kilkenny. The 350-acre estate provided her with an endless source of inspiration, and a wealth of exquisite colour to paint. Her work captures the essence of her immediate environs with both striking accuracy and a sense of fresh immediacy. She is best known for her sumptuous garden scenes, as well as her detailed depictions of animals and birds, which she cleverly imbued with subtleties of character.
A Handmade Donegal Carpet After a Design by Gavin Morton, G.K Robertson
This Lily of the Valley pattern handmade Donegal carpet comes up as lot 285 at Reilly’s auction in Prosperous, Co. Kildare on September 14. The sale of 500 lots – on behalf of renowned jockey Michael J Kinane of Eadling House, Punchestown – features a number of Donegal and Persian carpets and runners as well as fine furniture, art and collectibles. This one is estimated at €3,800-€4,000, the most expensively estimated at €8.000-€9,000 is a blue ground design by Gavin Morton and G K Robertson, who began their collaboration in the 19th century.
