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    • Archive for the ‘AUCTIONS’ Category

    A BUSY WEEK OF AUCTIONS IN IRELAND COMING UP

    Saturday, March 19th, 2022
    Soleil en foret (Sunlight in the forest) by Roderic O’Conor at Fonsie Mealy. UPDATE: THIS MADE 40,000 AT HAMMER

    A Regency cheval mirror with satinwood crossbanding is among the lots of interest at Matthews sale of the entire contents of Rath House in Dundalk online from Kells, Co. Meath on March 20.  The sale of 1,117 lots includes antique furniture, paintings, silver and collectibles.  There are tables, sets of chairs, chests of drawers, bookcases, Oriental porcelain, Waterford Crystal, Victorian landscapes and portraits and all sorts of collectibles among a wide variety of lots.  Viewing is now underway and the auction will be online.

    The sale is a prelude to a number of auctions next week and the week after.  Purcell Auctioneers in Birr will offer a 1908 limited edition Collected Works of W.B. Yeats (update – hammer 2,400) in verse and prose as a highlight of their sale of Irish and world interest books on March 23.  A very rare Treatise on the Art of War by Roger, Earl of Orrery from 1677 comes up too (update – this made 1,250 at hammer). Works by Richard Brydges Beechey, Roderic O’Conor and William Orpen’s portrait of  James Hugh Smith-Barry will highlight Fonsie Mealy’s sale of Irish and International Art on March 23. There are 236 lots on offer.  A 48 hour timed online auction of jewellery by O’Reilly’s of Francis St. in Dublin runs from March 23-25.

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    MOONLIT O’CONOR SEASCAPE TO HIGHLIGHT ADAMS AUCTION

    Friday, March 18th, 2022
    Roderic O’Conor (1860-1940) Marine, au Clair de Lune. UPDATE: THIS MADE 160,000 AT HAMMER

    This marine painting by Roderic O’Conor will highlight the James Adam sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin on March 30. It is estimated at €150,000-200,000. Another highlight is The Boat by Jack B. Yeats, a 1948 oil with an estimate of €80,000-120,000. The sale offers a rich selection of fine paintings and sculpture from some remarkable Dublin collections and includes many works that have not been seen on the art market in a very long time. There are works from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. The catalogue is online and in person viewing gets underway on March 25.

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    LIMERICK SILVER MARROW SCOOP AT BONHAMS

    Friday, March 18th, 2022
    George III Irish provincial silver marrow scoop – Thomas John Burke, Limerick, 1784 – 1800. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £573.75

    A rare Limerick silver marrow scoop comes up at Bonhams Home and Interiors sale in London on March 29-30. Made by Thomas Burke it is estimated at £800-£1,000. The sale features a number of items of Irish silver from the Peter Ticher collection which includes a pair of George II Irish cast silver candlesticks by Matthew Walker, Dublin, 1730–1731. Estimates range from £100-£4,000. Highlights include An 18th century Irish silver cream jug with no maker’s mark, only crowned harp and Hibernia, circa 1750 (£500-£600); a collection of Irish silver bright-engraved flatware, varying makers (£400-£600) and eleven Irish provincial silver teaspoons by Carden Terry & Jane Williams, Cork, stamped with maker’s mark CT over IW, and stamped Sterling, circa 1810 (£300-£400).

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    LOST MASTERPIECE BY CANOVA REAPPEARS AT CHRISTIE’S

    Friday, March 18th, 2022
    Antonio Canova (Possagno 1757-1822 Venice) – Maddalena Giacente (Recumbent Magdalene) marble, 1819-1822. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    Antonio Canova’s (1757-1822) Maddalena Giacente (Recumbent Magdalene) 1819-1822, the Italian titan’s lost masterpiece completed shortly before his death, will be a highlight at Christie’s during Classic Week in London this summer. The sculpture of Mary Magdalene in a state of ecstasy was commissioned by the Prime Minister of the day, Lord Liverpool (1812-1827). Scholars have searched for the work for decades. In November 1819 Thomas Moore, the Irish poet and lyricist, recorded that Canova: “took me to see his last Magdalen, which is divine: she is lying recumbent in all the abandonment of grief; and the expression on her face and the beauty of her figure … are perfection”. The sculpture passed to Lord Liverpool’s brother and after his death it came up at Christie’s in 1852. It was acquired by Lord Ward whose son sold it at a moment of personal tragedy to the carpet manufacturer Sir Herbert Smith. The attribution to Canova seems to have been lost at this stage. It changed hands as a “classical figure” in 1938 and was purchased by Violet van der Elst, a campaigner who was instrumental in bringing about the abolition of the death penalty in England. It was in the garden in her house at Addison Road, Kensington and was sold with the house several times. In 2002 it was sold in a garden statuary sale and the attribution to Canova has only been established recently. It is now estimated at £5,000,000-8,000,000.  The earliest known photograph of the marble was taken in 1857 at the Manchester Art Treasures exhibition which was opened by Prince Albert.

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    AN IRISH BOG OAK HARP AT SHEPPARDS

    Thursday, March 17th, 2022
    CARVED BOG OAK HARP WITH SHAMROCK DECORATION. UPDATE: THIS MADE 240 AT HAMMER

    THE harp that once is commemorated in this bog oak piece which comes up as lot 63 at Sheppards Irish Vernacular sale on March 29. Unrivalled symbols of Ireland the harp and the shamrock are deeply associated with celebrations marking St. Patrick’s Day. The ballad by Thomas Moore (1779-1852) symbolises an Ireland that was still under British domination and begins:

    The harp that once through Tara’s halls
    The soul of music shed
    Now hangs as mute on Tara’s walls
    As if the soul were fled

    A 1930 version sung by Count John McCormack is available on You Tube. Sheppards sale offers 403 lots. The catalogue is online and the bog oak harp is estimated at 200-300. Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

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    CHAMPION BASEBALL PLAYERS SCORE AT VICTOR MEE AUCTION

    Wednesday, March 16th, 2022

    Still winning after all these years the brothers Edward (1827?-1887) and John Burke (1829-1892) have done it again. A framed E and J Burke Dublin Chicago and New York Baseball players advertisement made a hammer price of 19,000 as Victor Mee’s three day sale of HCR chemists memorabilia, pub memorabilia and decorative advertising began to draw to a conclusion this evening. It was lot number 1447 in the sale. In March 2020 a similar advertisement made 17,500 at Sheppards.

    The brothers were Irish distillers, brewers, bottlers and importers, cousins of Benjamin Lee Guinness and grandsons of the first Arthur Guinness. The company they founded in 1847 was in business in New York City from 1874 to 1953. A six story brick warehouse at 616 W 46th St. served as headquarters and storage from 1913-1922.

    (See post on antiquesandartireland.com for March 3, 2020)

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    THE DRAMA OF ISLAND LIFE OFF IRELAND IN ART AT BONHAMS

    Wednesday, March 16th, 2022
    William Bartlett: Returning from the Fair. UPDATE: THIS MADE £35,250

    In the 19th century, life for tenanted farmers on the islands off the west coast of Ireland was tough. Their small holdings were barely sufficient to support livestock, and they faced the additional challenge of transporting back home the animals they had bought at fairs on the mainland. Since their boats were too small to accommodate the cattle, the farmers and their wives had no option but to tow the beasts across the treacherous sounds. The drama of this perilous journey is depicted in William Bartlett’s Returning from the Fair at Bonhams 19th Century Paintings sale in London on  March 30. It is estimated at £20,000-30,000.

    William Bartlett (1858 -1932) was only 20 when in 1878 he first became captivated by the west of Ireland during a summer visit made with the American painter, Howard Helmick. It was not until 1886, however, after many years of artistic training – mostly in Paris where he absorbed the innovative naturalism of Jules Bastien-Lepage – that he returned to the area. The Connemara light and the hardships experienced by the people inspired some of Bartlett most powerful works and proved a life-long inspiration. In a note on Returning from the Fair, painted in 1888, he wrote, ‘To the periodical Markets, held on the mainland, the inhabitants of the outlying islands are often obliged (owing to the smallness of the boats) to tow their cattle after them.’

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    DIVE INTO THE PAST AT MATTHEWS HOUSE CONTENTS SALE

    Tuesday, March 15th, 2022
    Deep Sea Divers Helmet  UPDATE: THIS MADE 190 AT HAMMER

    You never know what you might come across at an auction of house contents. Which is why they are brimful of interest. This copper deep sea divers helmet with the insignia of the US Navy Mark V full size is one of the more unusual collectibles at Matthews sale of contents of Rath House, Dundalk on March 20. There are 1,117 lots including antiques, art, silver and collectibles. The helmet is lot 47 and is estimated at just 120-180.

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    ORPEN PORTRAIT AT FONSIE MEALY ART SALE

    Monday, March 14th, 2022

    This 1904 portrait of James Hugh Smith-Barry by Sir William Orpen comes up as lot 123 at Fonsie Mealy’s sale of Irish and international art on March 23.  Closely associated with Barryscourt Castle and the Fota estate in Cork the Barry family were prominent from Anglo-Norman times.  With the death in 1823 of the 8th Earl of Barrymore the title became extinct.  It was revived in 1902 when Arthur Hugh Smith-Barry was created Baron Barrymore.  He commissioned Orpen to paint a posthumous portrait of his father to be hung at Fota with the Barry ancestors. It was based on a pastel sketch made in 1854 by James Rannie Swinton. The estimate is €20,000-€30,000. UPDATE: THIS MADE 19,000 AT HAMMER

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    CHEMIST SHOP FITTINGS OFFER JUST THE TONIC

    Saturday, March 12th, 2022
    Mahogany pharmacy shop back with 84 labelled drawers. UPDATE: THIS MADE 13,200 AT HAMMER

    The clearance sale of contents from the chain of Hayes Conyngham Robinson chemist shops at Victor Mee next week is just the tonic for collectors with an interest in  Ireland’s retail history.  An entire era of shop fittings went into long term storage when the business was taken over by Boots in 1998.  Historic items like beautiful old cash registers and the kind of medicine bottles your grandmother would have been familiar with will come under the hammer at a three day live and online sale from Belturbet, Co. Cavan, which will include pub and advertising memorabilia, starting on Monday.

    Founded in 1897 HCR operated for over 100 years, ending up with 30 locations across Ireland. All proceeds from the HCR lots are to be donated to Bernardo’s.  Chemist jars with black and gold labels and early 20th century amber glass chemist bottles are redolent of an era that many older readers will fondly remember, a time when no visit by a child with an adult to a chemist shop  would be complete without a twisted orange coloured barley sugar stick. The ingenuity of collectors is legendary and the thought of new life and new uses for venerable items like an early 20th century mahogany chemist counter back is heartening.  This one, complete with centre glazed door and gilded PRESCRIPTIONS pediment, is estimated at €1,500-€2,500.  There is an estimate of €1,000-€2,000 on a mahogany chemist counter and a shop counter with a bank of 50 drawers is estimated at €1,500-€3,000.

    Collection of eight Bristol blue chemist bottles. UPDATE: THESE MADE 200 AT HAMMER

    There are various collections of chemists poison bottles, amber bottles and glass jars at estimates of from €50 to €250. There are wall cabinets, wooden advertising boxes, floor cabinets with adjustable shelving, shop display cabinets and even an animatronic chemists advertising machine.A Kirker and Green advertising mirow from the Connswater Distillery in Belfast, which closed in 1929, is a leading lot in the pub memorabilia section.  There is a highly collectible Mitchell’s Whiskey mirror, Capstan and Players cigarette machines and some bottles of rare Irish whiskey.  The catalogue is online and Victor Mee is hosting actual viewings for the first time in two years.  Auctions are at 5 pm on March 14, 15 and 16.

    A messenger bike from Roches pub grocery shop on Inishbofin. UPDATE: THIS MADE 550 AT HAMMER

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