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
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.
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.
Apex, a stegosaurus skeleton discovered in Colorado in 2022 sold for $44.6 million at Sotheby’s in New York last night to become the most valuable fossil ever sold at auction. It was bought by Ken Griffin, the Citadel hedge fund founder. Measuring eleven feet tall and 27 feet long the fossil exceeded its pre-sale estimate of $4 – $6 million by more than eleven times at the Natural History auction. There were seven bidders in the hunt. Apex was discovered by professional fossil hunter Jason Cooper. He named it Apex because it would have been the most formidable predator in its environment. It is virtually complete, with 254 fossil bone elements (of an approximate total of 319), with additional 3D printed and sculpted elements. Evidence of arthritis indicate that it lived to an advanced age.
HANDMADE FLOOR RUG, by V’SOSKE JOYCE, GALWAY. UPDATE: THIS MADE 900 AT HAMMER
A large handmade floor rug by V’Soske Joyce, Galway from Cabinet Pinto, Paris is at de Veres summer online auction of more than 150 lots of art and design which runs until July 24. V’Soske Carpets was established over 70 years ago in Michigan, by a firm of artisans, producing beautiful high quality handmade carpets and tapestries to special order. Plans to expand into the European market were realised when Vesta V’Soske had a chance encounter with two local entrepreneurs in Oughterard, Co. Galway. A collaboration with James Joyce and Burke Monaghan resulted in a factory in the name of V’Soske Joyce being established in Oughterard. Here a team of skilled craftsmen practising the renowned V’Soske hand tufting technique has been operating ever since.
The company renamed the Dixon Carpet Company, when it was bought by Michael Dixon in 1979, only uses 100% pure new wool yarns which are chosen and dyed specially for each design. All dyeing of the wool is carried out by the firm itself providing the control that makes possible the creation of more than four thousand shades of colour. The company has provided rugs and carpets to many royal families and governments worldwide as well as many luxury hotels, including the Dorchester, the Ritz Paris and the Shelbourne in Dublin. This rug is estimated at €800-€1,200.
A Palitoy Star Wars vinyl cape made a hammer price of €18,500 over an estimate of €8,000-€12,000 at Sheppards in Durrow today. The vintage original carded figure with vinyl cape and laser gun measures two and a quarter inches. It was part of a collection of Star Wars Palitoy toys on offer in the three day auction of contents from St. Austins, Gorey, Co. Wexford taking place in Durrow. Palitoy was a British toy manufacturer which made Star Wars action figures and vehicles on the release of the original trilogy, Star Wars in 1978, The Empire Strikes Back in 1980 and Return of the Jedi in 1983 along with The Power of the Force in 1985. The company also made Action Man and Care Bears but the Star Wars franchise became Palitoy’s biggest seller and original Star Wars figures are highly collectible nowadays. A Palitoy Star Wars Jawa with a cloth cape made €2,800 at hammer at Sheppards today. Other Palitoy Star Wars lots made hammer prices from €520 to €950. The auction of contents from St. Austins continues at Sheppards tomorrow.
A gouache and ink on paper by Alexander Calder from a Kildare collection sold for $57,600 at Sotheby’s Contemporary Discoveries sale in New York on July 16. It was from the estates of Dr. John and Mary Esther O’Driscoll of Kildare. Notable art collectors, they acquired it at the Crane Kalman Gallery in London in 1974. Long Painting No. 2 by Tony O’Malley from their collection sold at Sotheby’s Irish Art sale in Paris last year for €5,080.
