Louis le Brocquy – Painting Figure. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
This 1959 work by Louis le Brocquy is at Sotheby’s Modern British and Irish art sale in London on June 26 with an estimate of £30,000-50,000. It was acquired by the present owner at the Esther Robles Gallery in Los Angeles. The auction features important works by British and Irish artists and those working in the UK across the 20th century, including the St Ives Modernists, Scottish Colourists, Bloomsbury, Camden Town, Vorticist and Post-War groups, and it will span paintings, drawings, sculptures and ceramics. Among the Irish artists featured are Sir John Lavery, William Scott and Jack Coulter.
GEORGE II IRISH – LIMERICK – SILVER CREAM EWER BY JOSEPH JOHNS. UPDATE: THIS MADE 4,600 AT HAMMER
A ver rare c1745 Limerick silver cream ewer by Joseph Johns is among the lots at Hegarty’s online sale in Bandon on June 26. This intricate piece has a clear hallmark to left of the engraved cartouche. Joseph Johns was the most prolific of Limerick’s goldsmiths and became a freeman of Limerick in 1731. He lived and worked in Main Street, Englishtown (now Mary Street), opposite Fanning’s Castle. The ewer is estimated at €5,200-6,200.
Edwardian roll top desk. UPDATE: THIS MADE 180 AT HAMMER
A hot Georgian wine cooler or a cool Edwardian desk? The choice is yours at Woodwards online summer auction in Cork on June 28. Well positioned each of these stylish antique pieces can add grace to most homes. Estimated respectively at €600-€800 and €400-€600 they are not particularly expensive and would have cost more 20 years ago.
Such is the sad state of the market for antique furniture. The happy news (if that is not a contradiction in terms right now) is that furniture like this does offer spectacular value. The sale at Woodwards is rich in such pieces like a Regency crossbanded tea table (€400-€600), a d-end dining table (€200-€400), a parquetry inlaid hall table (€200-€400), a Victorian walnut davenport (€300-€500), a William IV card table (€250-€400) and a Regency Pembroke table (€300-€600). Among other offerings are a large Persian rug (€500-€800), a five piece cast iron patio suite (€800-€1,200), a gilt console mirror with marble table top (€800-€1,200) and art including Vanity Fair Spy prints and Victorian silhouettes and collectibles.
Georgian wine cooler UPDATE: THIS MADE 380 AT HAMMER
One of a pair of stone sculptures of Kinsale hounds UPDATE: THESE WERE UNSOLD
A monumental pair of stone sculptures of Kinsale hounds might be a tad over the top for your average apartment entrance but with a mansion, a castle or even a large imposing garden it is another story entirely. The Great Danes, in the style of the favourite hunting hound of the 25th Lord Kingsale, John de Courcy (1717-1776) are among a number of remarkable lots at Sheppards annual Glantelwe Gardens sale in Durrow on June 24.
A keen deer hunter Lord Kingsale lived at Old Head Castle and imported a pair of hunting dogs to help him deal with wolves. It is claimed the Kinsale hounds killed the last wolf in Ireland.
A pair of classical style terracotta campana urns UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
Sheppards auction, on view from today at Glantelwe Gardens along the banks of the River Erkina in Co. Laois, offers more than 600 lots of statuary, sculpture and architectural pieces. Here you will find everything from a monumental Italian bronze fountain with four classically draped female figures (€15,000-€25,000) to a bronze patinated cannon (€3,000-€5,000), a contemporary bronze sculpture of boxing hares (€2,500-€3,500), a cast iron frog ornament (€50-€80) and a 19th century horse drawn carriage formerly owned by actress Maureen O’Hara.
With classical and contemporary statues, moulded stone urns, cast and wrought iron furniture, architectural salvage sourced from an Irish demesne, antique follies and ornamental ironwork this sale should be a mecca for collectors, gardeners and designers in search of a show stopping centrepiece or a discreet focal point.
A large green patinated bronze sculpture of Mercury, a pair of 19th century arched entrance gates, a set of six cast iron standard urns, a pair of Italianate stone dogs on plinths, neo-classical moulded urns, a pair of large Medici lions in composite stone, a 19th century cast iron bistro set and even a monumental bronze sculpture of a jockey on horseback all have the capacity to inspire.
The Kinsale hounds will set you back an estimated €8,000-€12,000.
A 19th century horse drawn carriage owned by Maureen O’Hara. UPDATE: THIS LOT WAS WITHDRAWN
A rare early Irish £50 note dated September 10, 1928 and featuring Lady Lavery could make up to £15,000 (€17,600) at Noonans in Mayfair on June 25. That was the month when legal tender notes, pegged in value to the pound sterling, came into circulation. It followed a determination by the then Irish Free State in the mid 1920’s to design its own coins and banknotes. Until the advent of the euro three series of legal tender notes were issued by Ireland. The Irish Free State £50 note is considerably rarer than the £100 note. This particular one was described by Andrew Pattison of Noonan’s as: “one of the finest-known examples of this first date for the iconic Lady Lavery series”. A proof £100 note from 1978-79 featuring a vignette of 16th century pirate Grace O’Malley (Granuaile) is estimated at £2,000-£2,600 (€2,350-€3,052).
This very rare blue and white Lotus vase with Yongzheng mark is at Adams with an estimate of €60,000-€80,000. UPDATE: THIS MADE €51,000 AT HAMMER
A rare blue and white globular Lotus vase leads the sale of Fine Asian Art at Adams in Dublin on June 25. Estimated at €60,000-€80,000 it carries the Yongzheng (1723-1735) six character mark in underglaze blue. The Yongzheng emperor took an unprecedented personal involvement in ceramic production and actively participated in the design and oversight of Imperial porcelain. Precious pieces from his era hold a revered place in Qing Dynasty ceramics. The auction offers more than 400 lots with estimates from €200 up.
A GROUP OF NINE AMERICAN GOLD EAGLE TEN-DOLLARS INDIAN HEAD COINS, 1926. UPDATE: THESE MADE €10,000 AT HAMMER
This group of nine American gold eagle coins is the top lot at Adams timed online Jewellery Box sale which runs until June 24. The ten dollar Indian head coins from 1926 have a total gross weight of 150.8 g and are estimated at €10,000-15,000. Viewing for the auction gets underway in Dublin today. A total of 394 lots will come under the hammer.
A very fine pair of enormous fossilized Irish Elk Horns and Skull, the horns with 14 points and spanning 98″ made a hammer price of €40,000 at Fonsie Mealy’s Chatsworth summer fine art sale in Castlecomer today. Oscar Wilde’s desk made €29,000, a second specimen Irish elk horns made €28,000, a pair of large early 19th century terrestrial and celestial globes by John and William Newton, London, 1818 made €15,000, a French bateau bed owned by Oscar Wilde made €15,000, a Louis XV Cartel clock and barometer set made €12,000 and a bronze of The Cossacks Crossing the Balkans by Evgeny Alexandrovich Lanceray made €9,000.
(See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for June 14 and June 9, 2025)
Pair of Irish silver strawberry dishes by Joseph Walker
A pair if Queen Anne Irish silver strawberry dishes by Joseph Walker, Dublin 1709, made $32,760 over a top estimate of $6,000 at Christie’s in New York. The dishes were from the collection of investor, documentary film maker and collector Anne H Bass (1941-2020) in one of New York’s most iconic private residences. They had been acquired from S J Shrubsole in New York in 1983. A set of four George II Irish silver candlesticks by John McLaughlin Sr. Dublin c1755 made $18,900 and a similar era set of four candlesticks by Thomas Williamson, Dublin c1755 made $11,970. The online sale of 185 lots – Anne H Bass: The New York Interiors – made $4.3 million
This oil on canvas by Seamus Coleman is lot 32 at Whyte’s summer online art auction which runs until June 30. Viewing for this sale gets underway today. It offers a range of affordable art from Ireland and around the world. On offer is art by Graham Knuttel, Gerard Byrne, Cecil Maguire, Paul Henry, Jack Butler Yeats, Sidney Nolan, Pauline Bewick, Damien Hirst, Diana Copperwhite and many more. The catalogue is online. The estimate for lot 32 is €500-700.
