 |
 |
The die proofs for the Ulster Bank Limited’s George Best commemorative £5 dating from November 25, 2006 will come up online at Dix Noonan Webb‘s sale of British, Irish and World Banknotes in London on February 24. The note itself was sold commercially in numbered folders and remains the most popular commemorative banknote ever produced in the UK. The die proofs featuring Best represent part of the design process for the final note. They are estimated at £400-500. UPDATE: THESE SOLD FOR £360
The Cold War Relics auction live and online at Julien’s on February 13 will include New York’s KGB Espionage Museum Collection. The sale will feature the world’s largest collection of KGB-specific spy equipment and authentic KGB artefacts from the Cold War. Over 400 lots will be on offer such as clandestine operative cameras, counter-intelligence detectors, morse code machines, airplane radars, voice recorders and official government documents.
Highlights include a rare Soviet version of the Enigma code cipher machine known as the Fialka, a replica of the deadly syringe umbrella believed to have been used to carry out the assassination of Bulgarian author Georgi Markov in London, a vintage one-thousand-pound carved stone sculpture of Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin from the headquarters of the KGB in Kaliningrad, a purse with a hidden camera and shutter apparatus, a machine used by border guards to detect people hiding in vehicles, a German WWII phone tap device, an original steel door from a former KGB prison hospital, a unique portable wire recording machine, and a vintage railroad “Infected Area” warning sign.
Gustave Caillebotte’s Petit bras de la Seine près d’Argenteuil will highlight the sale of an exceptional private collection at Christie’s Paris on March 30. Assembled over four decades by a Parisian collector it focuses on modern and post-war art by artists such as Raoul Dufy, Alexander Calder, Maurice Utrillo, Serge Poliakoff and Sanyu. The collection brings together important international figures from the end of the 19th century to the 1950’s, illustrating the Parisian art scene from Post-Impressionism to the Ecole de Paris and the Seconde Ecole de Paris. Some works from the collection will be included in various owner sales in the first half of 2021.
UPDATE: THE SALE REALISED €9,323,000 WITH REGISTERED BIDDERS FROM 23 COUNTRIES.
Until we Meet Again by Jack B Yeats comes up at Christie’s Modern British Art evening sale in London on March 1. Painted in 1949 it personifies his expressionistic style of the late 1940’s. Characterised by dynamic brush strokes and thick impasto Christie’s say that Yeats’s treatment of the medium can be readily compared to the paintings of his European Expressionist contemporaries, most notably the work of his good friend Oskar Kokoschka. The work is estimated at £500,000-800,000. UPDATE: THIS MADE £598.500
Around 650 lots from the collection of Mrs. Henry Ford II will be offered at sale by Christie’s in New York and London on March 30 and April 20 next. Contents from her Palm Beach home will be offered in New York, the London sale will be composed of lots from her English residences in London’s Eaton Square and Turville Grange in Buckinghamshire. The sales are expected to bring in more than $5 million. Kathleen Fords Impressionist paintings and jewellery were sold at Christie’s in New York last December. Henri de Toulouse Lautrec’s Pierreuse from her collection achieved the top price of $9.062 million at Christie’s live streamed 20th Century Sale: Hong Kong to New York.
An Edwardian dolls house, a marble topped giltwood console table and a Victorian rosewood work table are among the lots at Woodwards online only auction of antiques, fine art and collectibles ON February 13. This first sale of 2021 by the Cork auctioneers will include three house contents from residences in Douglas and Carrigaline. The selection on offer includes an inlaid walnut demi lune card table (€500-€800), a William IV breakfast table (€400-€500), a set of Georgian dining chairs (€400-€600), a large Iranian rug (€400-€600), a Georgian Pembroke table (€200-€400), a Coalbrookdale garden seat (€600-€800), a Georgian bureau bookcase (€400-€600), an Edwardian tea table (€200-€400) and a longcase clock by Sterling, Limerick (€400-€600). The dolls house is estimated at €300-€400, the Louis XV style console table at €400-€600 and the worktable at €300-€400. The auction will include a selection of mirrors, glassware, marine items, porcelian and paintings.
One of a pair of Art Deco style club armchairs at Hegarty’s timed online auction which runs from now until February 9. There is art, jewellery, glass and collectibles among more than 340 lots. The armchairs are estimated at 3,000-4,000 and the catalogue for the sale is online. UPDATE: THE ARMCHAIRS SOLD FOR 2,500 AT HAMMER
A triptych portrait of cervical cancer campaigner Vicky Phelan sold for a hammer price of £46,500 at Sheppards in Durrow today. Sold for Heroes Aid, a newly registered charity dedicated to healthcare workers during the pandemic, it is by the Tullamore based artist Vincent Devine. Vicky Phelan’s narrative is conveyed as past, present and future acted out on Doonbeg beach in the west of Ireland. The left-hand panel is dominated by a powerful assemblage of equine flesh and bone whose forward motion is suddenly halted. The sitter engages directly with the viewer in the centre panel. Events, both joyful and traumatic are rendered symbolically. Her outstretched right hand supports a bird, a young crimson rosella, representative of her daughter; on her left hand, her son as a sapling oak. Beneath her left foot, a colonnade represents a legal triumph while shamrocks close to her heart are emblematic of the continuous support she has received from the people of Ireland and beyond. In the right-hand panel a horse is looking backwards and a flickering candle reminds the viewer of the fragility of life itself. The portrait was unveiled on the Late Late Show in January. Vicky Phelan is currently trialling a new cancer drug in the US.
An 18th century mahogany Chippendale bookcase was the top lot at the opening morning session of Sheppards three day sale of Belmont House and other important clients in Durrow today. It made a hammer price of 2,700 in a session where antique furniture attracted much competitive bidding. A George I walnut and herringbone inlaid low boy made 1,300 at hammer, an Irish 18th century silver table made 1,500, a Regency side table made 1,300, a Regency coffee table made 1,500, a 19th. century gilt over mantle made 1,100, a 19th century walnut centre table made 1,450, a Regency centre table made 1,700 and a satinwood and painted pier cabinet made 1,700. Waterfall, a tapestry wall hanging by Pauline Bewick made a hammer price of 5,600 in the afternoon session.
This late 19th century French brass six sided hall lantern from Hudson Antiques is part of the Decorative Antiques and Textiles Fair. This year the fair is taking the form of an online auction with 345 lots at Bonhams which runs until February 12. Lot 57 is estimated at £1,600-2,200.
After the auction successful buyers will be contacted by Bonhams to see if they would like to collect their purchased lots from the vendors premises or from Cadogan Tate in Park Royal, London. Oversized items such as garden sculpture which require heavy lifting equipment will only be available for collection from the vendors premises.
