One of the most sought after Irish football match programmes comes under the hammer at Mullens online Collectors Cabinet sale in Laurel Park, Bray on December 5. The sale was postponed in October. The programme for the Ireland v Germany match at Dalymount Park in 1936 is estimated at €600-€800. It shows the Swastika decorated Nazi German flag and the Irish tricolour. Ireland won by five goals to two. It is from the collection of Christy Rooney from The Liberties, Dublin, a lifelong Manchester United and Ireland supporter. Nearly 4,000 programmes will be offered in 64 lots with estimates from €60-€800. A 1986 facsimile of the Book of Kells is estimated at €5,000-€7,000.
Among a large selection of film posters is lot 448, the 1964 Goldfinger poster. Sadly Sean Connery, Margaret Nolan, the actress whose gold painted body featured in the film and Honor Blackman, who played Pussy Galore, all died this year.
A 1939 All Ireland Hurling winners 9 carat gold Celtic Cross medal comes up at Fonsie Mealy’s Rare Book and Collectors sale in Castlecomer on December 9 and 10. Known as the Thunder and Lightning Final the match took place on September 3, 1939, hours after World War II was declared. Kilkenny and Cork under the captaincies of Jimmy Walsh and Jack Lynch, took to the battlefield of sport. The Cats prevailed on a score line of 2-7 to 3-3. Lot 522 is estimated at 1,500-2,000.
With an estimate of 200,000-300,000 The Blue Hills of Connemara is one of a number of major works by Paul Henry at Whytes sale of exceptional Irish art in Dublin on December 7. There are 136 lots on the catalogue, which is online. This wide ranging sale, with something for most pockets and most budgets, is rich in major paintings like this one.
THE BLUE HILLS OF CONNEMARA, 1933 PAUL HENRY RHA (1876-1958). UPDATE; THIS SOLD FOR 240,000 AT HAMMER
A portrait of of George Villiers, 4th Viscount Grandison of Limerick (1618-99) by Sir Peter Lely comes up at Sotheby’s Old Masters day sale which runs from today until December 5. It is estimated at £10,000-15,000. Grandison was the uncle of two notable Royal mistresses: Barbara Villiers, later Countess of Castlemaine and Duchess of Cleveland (1640-1709), perhaps the most notorious of King Charles II’s many mistresses; and Elizabeth Villiers, Countess of Orkney (1657-1733), the presumed mistress of King William III. His eldest son, Brigadier-General the Hon. Edward Villiers, who married Katherine, the daughter of Sir John FitzGerald and changed his name to FitzGerald in order to inherit that family’s estates at Dromana, County Waterford, predeceased him and he was succeeded by his grandson, John Villiers, 5th Viscount and 1st Earl of Grandison (1684-1766), at whose death, without surviving male issue, the Earldom became extinct.
Sir Peter Lely Portrait of George Villiers, 4th Viscount Grandison of Limerick UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £12,600
A four panel Chinese lacquered screen with court scenes comes up at Lynes and Lynes in Carrigtwohill, Co. Cork on December 5. The online auction of 360 lots comprises two house contents including those of a downsizing couple who lived in China and Canada before retiring to west Cork. The screen, inlaid with mother of pearl and soapstone, is estimated at €600-€800. There are two stained glass panels by Desmond Kyne, one commemorating the 1979 visit of Pope John Paul II to Ireland, the other titled Our Lady Queen of Ireland. Each is estimated at €300-€500. The sale features a selection of books, glass, collectibles and drawings.
Irish collectors are faced with a dizzying array of online choices in a whole series of end of year sales in the run up to Christmas. Historically rare archival items, collectibles, antique furniture, Irish glass, porcelain, jewellery, silver and art will all come under the hammer. And there will be a series of major art sales in Dublin from December 7. The Woodwards online sale in Cork on December 5 offers a good selection of antique furniture, rugs, collectibles and art. There is a set of eight Cork 11-bar chairs (€2,500-4,000); a GCeorgian secretaire (€1,000-€1,500); an Edwardian drawingroom suite (€1,000-€1,500) and a pair of Waterford Crystal chandeliers (€800-1,500). At Sixmilebridge in Co. Clare Aidan Foley has a four day online sale with more than 2,000 lots starting on December 5 with a large collection of books, records and CD’s. This will be followed by auctions of antique furniture, mirrors, Persian rugs and art on the following three days. One of the prime lots is a large Killarney davenport with an estimate of €6,000-€8,000. The Collectors Cabinet sale by Mullens of Laurel Park, postponed from October, takes place on December 5. More than 500 lots of all sorts of everything from books and cinema posters to a facsimile of the Book of Kells, Irish Republican memorabilia and a collection of nearly 4,000 football programmes including the famous Irish v Germany games in 1936 when the Tricolour was published alongside the flag of Nazi Germany are due to come under the hammer.
In Dublin James Adam is running a timed online only At Home sale until December 2. There is silver, jewellery and watches, antique furniture, old Irish glass, art and collectibles with nearly 600 lots to chose from. More than 900 lots will come under the hammer online at a two day Christmas auction by Sean Eacrett of Ballybrittas, Co. Laois on December 5 and 6. The sale contents from an antique shop and a stamp collection.
A pair of Waterford Crystal chandeliers at Woodwards. UPDATE: THESE MADE 2,400 AT HAMMER
A Chinese celadon vase made a record hammer price of 1.2 million at Sheppards online sale in Durrow, Co. Laois today. It had been estimated at 800-1,200. Bidding started at 500. There was a number of serious underbidders, the first of whom dropped out at 130,000. Two bidders quickly chased it all the way to the final price. It was bought by a collector based in Taiwan. The Yongheng vase measures just 54 cms and came from a private collection. It is not known how the 300 year old piece came to Ireland. The sale was based on contents from Castlehyde, home of Michael Flatley on the River Blackwater, but the vase was not part of his collection. The vendor did have some idea that it was possibly worth a lot of money and before the sale a number of potential bidders had registered a serious interest.
The musée du Louvre is auctioning 24 exceptional lots with Christie’s and support of the Hôtel Drouot. The unprecendent online Bid for the Louvre auction will be held on Christie’s online platform from December 1-15. The sale of contemporary artworks, unique luxury pieces once in a lifetime experiences is designed to support the museum through these times and raise funds for Studio, a new space dedicated to artistic and cultural education due to open in autumn 2021. Some of the offered lots are unique. Among them is the opportunity to attend the annual examination of the Mona Lisa outside her display case, or the chance to walk through the rooftops of the Palais du Louvre in the company of the artist JR. There are works of art by contemporary artists close to the museum such as Johan Creten, Candida Höfer, Eva Jospin, Jean-Michel Othoniel, Pierre Soulages and Xavier Veilhan. Houses such as Cartier, Christian Dior Couture, Le Meurice, Le Ritz Paris, Louis Vuitton, Moët Hennessy, Parfums Christian Dior and Vacheron Constantin, are amongst the participants.
UPDATE: The sale brought in 2,365,000. The top lot was an artwork by Pierre Soulages which made 1.4 million.
Zaragossa (Grey) 1979 is the title of this cool, minimalist work by Cecil King from Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish art online auction which runs until November 30. The screenprint is number 21 from an edition of 40 and is estimated at 400-600. There has been retrospective’s of his work the Hugh Lane Gallery and at IMMA. More than 270 lots, including sculpture, will come under the hammer. The catalogue is online.
CECIL KING (1921-1986) Zaragossa (Grey) (1979). UPDATE: THIS MADE 700 AT HAMMER
The illuminated Hannibal Lecter mask from the film Hannibal sold for a hammer price of €85,000 at Sheppards online sale of residual contents from Castlehyde House, Fermoy. From the collection of MIchael Flatley, who is planning a refurbishment of the Co. Cork home he bought in 2001, the mask is signed by actors Anthony Hopkins and Julianne Moore. It was at €80,000-€100,000 the most expensively estimated lot of the sale.
On his retirement the man known globally as The Lord of the Dance took up art as an outlet for his creative force. One of his works, an acrylic on vinyl entitled The Finishing Line, made €37,000 at hammer against an estimate of €40,000-€60,000. A Maitland Smith bar sold for €8,200, a pair of large gilt bronze figures of nymphs each holding a torch made €4,600 as did a championship sized snooker table. Other hammer prices included: a black marble and ormolu Medici lion clock (€2,800); a pair of hide upholstered library settees (€3,600); a portrait of James Joyce wearing a white suit (€4,000); an extensive hunting scene (€5,200); an 18th century walnut armoire (€1,450); a pair of carved parcel gilt settees (€1,700); a pair of bronzed sculptures of centaurs (€2,200); a hide upholstered chesterfield settee (€1,400); a set of ten 19th century dining chairs (€2,800); a rococo carved giltwood coffee table €2,600); a library terrestrial globe (€2,600); a full suit of armour made €3,400 one sold for €1,700 and another for €1,100; a pair of painted Gainsborough chairs sold for €1,800. The sale of nearly 700 surplus to requirements pieces mostly collected over the past 20 years will continue today when another 236 lots will come under the hammer online at Sheppards.
