Midleton Very Rare Whiskey – 1988. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
This bottle of 1988 Midleton Very Rare Whiskey will lead the James Adam timed online sale of wines and spirits on September 25. The estimate is €10,000-€20,000. This is the most elusive release of the series with only 16 bottles known at auction since 2009. At Sotheby’s in New York last week a bottle of Knappogue Castle whiskey distilled in 1951 and bottled in 1987 made a hammer price of $1,500 (€1,353) over a top estimate of $900 (€811).
Only two Master Distillers have had the privilege of preserving the legacy of the world’s most sought-after Irish Whiskey – Barry Crockett and Brian Nation. Created in 1984 by Master Distiller Emeritus Barry Crockett, Midleton Very Rare is the ultimate expression of his art and expertise. Once a year, Master Distiller Brian Nation honours Barry’s vision by handpicking only the finest and rarest whiskeys from the Midleton Distillery warehouses and carefully blends them to create each annual vintage of Midleton Very Rare. Each bottle is individually numbered and signed by the Master Distiller, the mark of a true whiskey masterpiece. Midleton Very Rare is consistently awarded the highest honours at the world’s most respected whisky awards. The individual nature of the selection process means that each year’s vintage provides its own unique character. Viewing for this sale gets underway today.
EXTREMELY RARE KINSALE TABLESPOON by John Wall c1720. UPDATE: THIS MADE 4,200 AT HAMMER
Kinsale silver is desperately hard to come by so there is some excitement around this extremely rare c1720 tablespoon by John Wall. It comes up as lot 119 at a sale of four collections by de Veres in association with Aidan Foley in Dublin on September 24. The estimate is €1,000-€2,000. The auction is on view at Kildare St. from today and the catalogue is online. The 216 lots comprise four different collections of silver, stamps and coins, art and books. Among more than 120 lots of silver is this rare tablespoon and a 1701 Dublin tankard by Thomas Bolton. Coins and sovereigns include a 1943 Florin, there is a collection of stamps from 1949 to 2023 and a complete set of The Tain lithographs by Louis le Brocquy. UPDATE: An Irish William III silver tankard by Thomas Bolton made 6,000 at hammer and an Irish George I silver tankard by Joseph Walker made 8,000 at hammer. The Tain lithographs were unsold.
GRACE HENRY HRHA (1868-1953) – ATTIC BEDROOM. UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,600 AT HAMMER
Attic Bedroom by Grace Henry is lot 15 at Whyte’s sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin on September 30. The oil on board is estimated at €1,500-€2,000. Included in the sale are major works by Jack Butler Yeats, Paul Henry, William Orpen, Seán Keating, Mildred Anne Butler, William Percy French, William Conor, Mary Swanzy, Colin Middleton, Daniel O’Neill, Nano Reid, Patrick Collins, Camille Souter, Norah McGuinness, Patrick Hennessy, Donald Teskey, Rowan Gillespie, Anthony Scott, Liam O’Neill, Rita Duffy and many others. Viewing for the sale of 149 lots gets underway in Dublin today.
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. UPDATE: THESE WERE UNSOLD
A model of the Irish Hazel. UPDATE: THIS MADE 800 AT HAMMER
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.
A pair of tractor seat high stools UPDATE: THESE MADE 220 AT HAMMER
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.
Shell petrol pump. UPDATE: THIS MADE 3,000 AT HAMMER
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.
UPDATE: THE DATES FOR THIS SALE HAVE BEEN CHANGED TO SEPTEMBER 24, 25 AND 26.
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. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
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. UPDATE: THIS MADE 80 AT HAMMER
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. UPDATE: THIS MADE 380 AT HAMMER
Deborah Brown (1927 – 2023) – The Harper, 1952/53. UPDATE: THIS MADE 4,400 AT HAMMER
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. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £7,555,000
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.
