The Easter Rising medal awarded to Kathleen Lynn – whose Treaty debate photo alongside Constance Markievicz was published in this paper last Saturday – comes up at Mullen’s Collector’s Cabinet auction in Bray on January 29. Influenced while studying medicine by the writings of James Connolly and the poverty of the Dublin slums she joined the Irish Citizen Army as chief medical officer. Active in the Rising she was imprisoned in Britain, became vice president of Sinn Fein on her release and was on the run for much of the War of Independence. She was the driving force behind the establishment of Saint Ultan’s Children’s Hospital in 1919. The medal is estimated at €20,000-€30,000.The latest in the series of collectibles auctions at Mullen’s includes historical memorabilia, rare and antiquarian books, militaria, arms and armour, sporting memorabilia, model trains and toys.
Dr. Kathleen Lynn. UPDATE: THIS MADE 58,000 AT HAMMER
A single page of original artwork from an acclaimed 1984 comic featuring Spider-Man has sold for a record $3.36m (€2.93m) at Heritage Auctions in Dallas. This makes the webslinger the world’s mightiest auction superhero.
The page features the first appearance of Spidey’s black symbiote suit that would later lead to the creation of anti-hero Venom in artwork by Mike Zeck from Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars no. 8. The previous record for a single page of artwork from the interior of an American comic book was a frame showing the first image of Wolverine in a 1974 issue of “The Incredible Hulk”. The page sold for $657,250.
A FAMILLE ROSE ‘HUNDRED BATS’ VASE. UPDATE: THIS MADE 20,000 AT HAMMER
This Famille Rose hundred bats vase comes up as lot 119 at the James Adam Chinese New Year sale of Decorative Asian Arts in Dublin on January 18. The globular trumpet necked vase with the Guangxu six-character mark and of the period is estimated at €5,000-€7,000. The brightly enamelled vase has a profusion of iron-red bats in flight amidst multicoloured lingzhi clouds, between a band of ruyi heads at the rim and upright lappets around the foot. It is divided at the shoulder by a band of lotus sprays alternating with gilt shou characters on the shoulder above a gilt relief border.
The private collection of Bill Reese, renowned as the foremost dealer-scholar of antiquarian books of his generation, comes up at a series of sales at Christie’s beginning of May 25. The rich combination of printed works, historic prints, fine art, and colour-plate books rank this among the most valuable sales of printed Americana in over 50 years. With approximately 700 lots, the collection has a total pre-sale auction estimate of $12 to $18 million.
J W AudUbon – Gold Rush. Jesus Maria. UPDATE: Illustrated Notes of an Expedition through Mexico and California made $189,000
The collection is highlighted by one of only six recorded copies of one of the earliest contemporary broadside editions of the Declaration of Independence, and likely the first edition printed in New England: the Sang-Copley-Reese copy ($1,000,000-1,500,000) – UPDATE – THIS SOLD FOR $2.1 MILLION. The Continental Congress, after authorising the writing of the Declaration and approving the text submitted by Thomas Jefferson and his committee, took steps to ensure the rapid dissemination of the historic document when it was approved on 4 July 1776.
Highlights include the Illustrated Notes of an Expedition through Mexico and Californiaby John Woodhouse Audubon from 1852; Henry James Warre’s Sketches in North America and the Oregon Territory; William Guy’s Wall’s Hudson River Portfolio (the first complete copy of the first issue to be at auction since 1948); Hannah Millard’s even rarer chromolithograph work on the wine grapes of California—most copies of which seem to have been destroyed in the San Francisco’s Great Earthquake and Fire of 1906; and natural history works of John James Audubon, Mark Catesby, George Brookshaw, John Fisk Allen, and Daniel Giraud Eliot, among others.
Rare historic documents includePaul Revere’s engraving of The Bloody Massacre Perpetrated In King Street, Boston, On March 5th 1770, By Party Of The 29th Reg. Boston from March 1770 ($250,000-350,000) and a special first edition copy of Lewis and Clark’s History of the Expedition by Meriwether Lewis in 1814, which is the definitive account of the most important exploration of the North American continent.
Paul Revere – The Bloody Massacre. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $352,800
In 1979, William S. Reese established the antiquarian books firm that would define his presence in the market: the William Reese Company, situated adjacent to the Yale University campus and its Beinecke Library.
René Magritte’s L’empire des lumières captures the visual paradox that lies at the heart of the artist’s originality. With an estimate in excess of $60 million this masterpiece of 20th century art will be offered as a highlight of Sotheby’s Modern & Contemporary evening auction in London on March 2. It has been on loan to the Musée Magritte in Brussels from 2009-2020. It was created in 1961 for Baroness Anne-Marie Gillion Crowet, the daughter of Magritte’s patron the Belgian Surrealist collector Pierre Crowet, and has remained in the family ever since.
Bonhams has announced the acquisition of Bukowskis, the leading auction house in the Nordic region. Established in 1870 and with its flagship saleroom in Stockholm, Bukowskis is renowned throughout Scandinavia. During recent years they have transformed themselves from a much-loved, traditional, and respected brand into an innovative digital presence that attracts more than one million users every month. Last year, Bukowskis sold 11 out of the 15 most valuable artworks in the Swedish market. The acquisition is part of Bonhams strategy to further the development of Bonhams into a digital leader and a truly global player with a balanced presence across the US, Europe and Asia.
Much loved actor Michael Caine is downsizing. His personal collection is to be sold at Bonhams in London on March 2. For six decades, he has lent presence and distinction to every role he has undertaken – from the era-defining Alfie to classic films such as Get Carter, Zulu and Educating Rita; from his Oscar-winning performances in Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules to Batman’s unflappable butler, Alfred. Among the highlights are his Rolex wristwatch, a portrait of Sir Michael Caine by John Bratby, a large Italian cinema poster for Zulu, a director’s chair associated with Get Carter and Les amoureux dans l’arbre by Marc Chagall.
Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A. Portrait of Thomas Dawson, 1st Viscount Cremorne. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $100,800
This portrait of Thomas Dawson by Sir Thomas Lawrence comes up at Sotheby’s online Master Paintings sale part II which opens in New York on January 18 and runs to January 28. It is estimated at $40,000-60,000. The sale includes a number of important Renaissance devotional paintings, 17th century Dutch and Flemish paintings, portraiture across the ages, landscapes and still lifes.
Thomas Dawson was born in 1725, the third son of Richard Dawson of Dawson Grove, Monaghan, and Elizabeth, daughter of John Vesey, Archbishop of Tuam. He was a member of Parliament for Monaghan from 1749 to 1768. In 1770 he was made Baron Dartrey of Dawson’s Grove; in June 1785, Viscount Cremorne; and in November 1797 was named Baron Cremorne of Castle Dawson. He was first married to Anne Fermor, youngest daughter of the 1st Earl of Pomfret. Following her death in 1769, Dawson married Philadelphia Hannah Freame, daughter of Thomas Freame and granddaughter of William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania. Viscount Cremorne died in 1813. As he had no heirs, his titles became extinct.
Looted by the Nazi’s, restituted to the heirs of a Viennese Jewish industrialist, El Greco’s mesmerising 1570 Portrait of a Gentleman made €1,433,393 at Christie’s Old Masters evening sale in London in December. It was one of three works from the collection of Julius and Camilla Priester in the sale. The Priesters escaped Vienna and eventually made it to Mexico City via Lisbon. Despite photographic evidence their efforts to retrieve the collection after the war failed. It was discovered that some appraisers who had worked for the Gestapo were now dealing privately in Nazi loot. In 2010 the London based Commission for Looted Art in Europe identified the El Greco, still in its original frame, after it was acquired by a London art dealer. An unknown number of Nazi era looted works are still unaccounted for.
Hang on to that piece of Carrigaline pottery lurking in the deepest recesses of wherever you store your stuff. A pair of Carrigaline baluster vases, each with an attractive blue undulating glaze and 23 cm high, made €280 at the latest James Adam At Home sale in Dublin. From the late 1920’s to the late 1970’s Carrigaline Pottery produced large quantities of everyday striped tableware, as well as items for the tourist market. A rare Irish Killarney work wall mirror made a hammer price of €4,000 over a top estimate of €600 at the same sale. The 19th century bevelled glass mirror is in a classical Killarney wood frame with panels of interlinked shamrocks, oak leaves, acorns and marquetry landmarks.
