A PAINTED TIMBER MODEL OF A GALWAY HOOKER. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,300 AT HAMMER
This painted timber model of a Galway hooker is at Adams timed online Irish Vernacular sale on April 16. A total of 260 lots will come under the hammer, including Irish silver, oak and pine furniture, lustre ware, wrought iron gates and duck decoys. The catalogue is online and the auction will be on view from April 12.
Juliens will hold the largest ever auction of Princess Diana’s wardrobe in Beverly Hills on June 26. More than 200 lots will come under the hammer. A week before the collection goes live, Princess Diana items will be on exhibition in Newbridge, Ireland at The Museum of Style Icons (MOSI) from mid May until mid June 2025. The auction will feature pieces from British royal history, including couture garments from the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and historic items belonging to Queen Elizabeth II, the Queen Mother, and royal treasures dating as far back as the 19th century. In 2023 one of Diana’s gowns sold for $1.14 million at Julien’s and in 2024 a pair of her shoes achieved $390,000 at auction.
15th century medieval elm figure of Saint Fiacre
A rare 15th century medieval elm carved figure of Saint Fiacre, the Irish priest, abbot, hermit and gardener of the 7th century sold, sold at Woolley and Wallis today for £15,750 – 10 times its auction estimate of £1,000-£1,500.
Saint Fiacre is believed to be the patron saint of gardening and gardeners due to his skills in cultivating plants. He was born into an aristocratic family in 7th century Ireland and died c670. He dedicated his life to religion and became a monk. He developed the ability to make plants grow with ease and is also believed to have learned the healing powers associated with herbs.
Legend has it that Saint Fiacre had a vision telling him to go to France where he founded a small monastery in the Diocese of Meaux, which became a sanctuary of healing and retreat. His garden was filled with medicinal plants and flowers renowned for their healing powers. The carved figure stands at 83cm tall and presents him wearing a hood over his habit, holding a bible and spade. It was offered in The Howard Collection of Oak and Works of Art.
John Shinnors – Over Hook Head (Dunmore East in the distance). UPDATE: THIS MADE 17,000 AT HAMMER
This fairly figurative oil by John Shinnors is lot 21 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish and International online art auction on April 8. It is estimated at €15,000-€20,000. After the excitement of the Art Evolve fair which drew large crowds to the RDS over the weekend viewing for this auction continues at the Minerva Suite at the RDS in Dublin today. The auction will get underway at 6.30 pm tomorrow.
The revolver that fired the first shot of The Rising. UPDATE: THIS MADE 10,500 AT HAMMER
On March 21 1916, a day after Capt. Peadar Bracken fired a pinfire revolver during an attack by the RIC following a meeting of Irish Volunteers in Tullamore, Padraig Pearse said: ‘the first blood has been spilled and the first blow struck in defence of the Volunteers right to carry arms’.
Just over one month later on April 24 the Rising began. Though no one realised it at the time that shot heralded the beginning of the end of the British Empire. The gun from which it was fired is at Whyte’s Eclectic Collector online auction which ends from 2 pm on April 6. Lot 144 is estimated at €8,000-€10,000.
Articles of Agreement from 1921 signed by Eamon de Valera and Michael Collins. UPDATE: THIS MADE 68,000 AT HAMMER
A 1921 agreement to postpone the Sinn Fein Ard Fheis in order to avoid a split – signed by Eamon de Valera, Michael Collins, Austin Stack and Arthur Griffith – is another real rarity (€70,000-€90,000). An archive of 12 cans of restored 1916-1923 films of The Rising, The War of Independence and the Civil War is the most expensive lot (€80,000-€100,000). There are about four hours of films.
The market for collectibles is hot and it is predicted to grow. Objects that are collectible come and go but historic and verified rarities like will always be sought after. The timed online sale of 482 lots includes historical artefacts, documents, photographs, books, militaria, medals, weapons, advertising, sport, coins and banknotes. The timeline ranges from 5000 BC (a very large piece of bog oak) to gold coins issued in the year 2000.
There is a letter from Liam Lynch to his godmother in Co. Limerick; the archive of an Irish soldier who fought for Franco in the Spanish Civil War; the archive of a British army officer who served in the Auxiliary Division of the RIC and material from The Northern Ireland Troubles including prisoner art, weapons, rubber bullets and a telephone from Long Kesh.
A 1965 US tour book signed by all four Beatles
A 1965 US Tour Book signed by all four Beatles is estimated at 4,000-€6,000 and the sale includes five letters written by W B Yeats and his father John Yeats (€1,500-€2,000) and a signed first US edition of The Wind Among the Reeds (€1,200-€1,500). A 1775 document relates to Elvis Presley’s Irish ancestor William Presley of Counties Wicklow and Carlow who later emigrated to America (€1,000-€1,500). Collectible posters include an early 20th century Great Southern Railways poster featuring Connemara along with advertising material from Aer Lingus, CIE and Guinness.
An early 20th century Great Southern Railways poster featuring Connemara. UPDATE: THIS MADE 950 AT HAMMER
The collection of Liam Rapple, former president of Bohemians AFC and FAI honorary secretary includes the jersey worn by Stanley Matthews in an England v Ireland match, other jerseys from the 1940’s and ’50’s and an array of football programmes. A ticket to the infamous Bloody Sunday match between Tipperary and Dublin at Croke Park in November 1920 is estimated at €6,000-€8,000.
There is a good selection of banknotes including Ploughman notes and with gold in demand right now there will be much interest in gold coins including Krugerrand, Sovereigns and US dollars. Viewing continues today at Whyte’s on Molesworth St. in Dublin and the catalogue is online.
Ghost Ship by Dorothy Cross. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
There is a sense in which a highly original fin-de-siecle work by the Cork artist Dorothy Cross bookends the radical creativity that characterised the 20th century. A luminescent pigment print of a ghost ship by the artist at Adams Mid Century Modern timed online auctions which runs until April 8 will jog many memories.
In 1999 IMMA ran an open submission for an artwork to be located non-permanently in the Dublin area. Cross borrowed the decommissioned lightship which used to mark Daunt Rock off Cork Harbour, painted it in phosphorous paint and moored in Dublin Bay where it glowed and faded eerily each night for months. The print edition at Adams, number 22 out of 75, is estimated at €3,000-5,000.
Art by Fernand Leger, Felim Egan, Suzanne Valadon, Guggi, Stephen McKenna, A.R. Penck and Sean Scully with furniture by Eileen Gray, Charles and Ray Eames, Johannes Anderson and Edmondo Palutari can be found among the leading lots at the auction.
A pair of non conformist chairs by Eileen Gray UPDATE: THESE WERE UNSOLD
FERNAND LÉGER (1881-1955) – Les Papillons (1944). UPDATE: THIS MADE 26,000 AT HAMMER
Les Papillons by Fernand Leger is the leading lot at Adams Mid-Century Modern sale on April 8. Viewing for the auction of 241 lots gets underway in Dublin today and continues for the next four days. Among the top lots there is art by Guggi, Stephen McKenna, Suzanne Valadon, Albert Irvin, Felim Egan, A R Penck, Richard Gorman and Sean Scully. There is furniture by Eileen Gray, Charles and Ray Eames, Johannes Anderson, Edmondo Palutari and Niels Otto Moller. Les Papillons is estimated at €20,000-€30,000 and the catalogue is online.
UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,000 AT HAMMER
This 1775 document from Whyte’s eclectic collector timed online auction which runs until April 6 relates to Elvis Presley’s Irish ancestor. The charge sheet details how William Presley was attacked in a dispute over land as follows:
County Carlow Jury charge sheet of William Presley of Stradnakelly in the County of Wicklow, farmer. ‘The Jurors for our Lord the King, upon their Oath, that Andrew Morris of Mullannashea, Co. Wicklow, Francis Morris of Whiterock, Wicklow Samuel Morris of Cross, Thomas Morris late of Hacketstown, Co Carlow, William Wilson, Thomas Matthers, yeomen, with many other evil disposed Persons and Disturbers of the Peace whose names are ignorant of,
On seventeenth day of August in the fifteenth Year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Third, by the Grace of God of Great-Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, with Force and Arms that is to say with Swords, Sticks at Hacketstown in the said Co Carlow did riotously, routously and unlawfully assemble and associate themselves together, and the said Persons being then and there so riotously, routously and unlawfully assembled and associated upon one William Presley, a True and faithfully subject of the King the peace of God and of the said Lord the King ..they did beat wound and ill-treat where his life was greatly despaired of.. Contrary to the peace of our said Lord the King his Crown and Dignity’ .
This is a rare piece of evidence about Elvis Presley’s claim to Irish ancestry. William Presley left Hacketstown and emigrated to the United States. Lot 459 is estimated at €1,000-€1,500.
The catalogue with nearly 500 lots is online. Viewing gets underway today at Whyte’s at Molesworth St. in Dublin. The auction will draw to a close from 2 pm on April 6.
James Arthur O’Connor – The Avenue, A View in the Parc de Bruxelles. UPDATE: THIS MADE 19,000 AT HAMMER
A surprisingly strong sense of the contemporary belongs to an 1835 work by James Arthur O’Connor at Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish and International art sale on April 8. There is something almost surreal in the calm atmosphere of this depiction of a park with a neo classical building in the background. It antecedes the much later work of European greats like Rene Magritte and Giorgio de Chirico.
With its diagonal splash of blue sky “The Avenue, A view in the Parc de Bruxelles” was one of the highlights of the James Arthur O’Connor exhibition at the National Gallery of Ireland in 1985. The neo classical building shown now houses the US Embassy in Brussels and the painting – one of a number of highlights in this auction – is estimated at €20,000-€30,000.
The sale is headed by Connemara Hills by Paul Henry, featured on these pages last Saturday and described by Peter Murray as one of Henry’s best paintings. There is impressive work by artists like Roderic O’Conor, Colin Middleton, Donald Teskey, Louis le Brocquy, John Behan and John Shinnors.
Pablo Picasso – Visage Noir (Black Engraved Face)(1953). UPDATE: THIS MADE 18,000 AT HAMMER
Visage Noir (Black Engraved Face) (1953) by PIcasso is a highly sought after Madoura Pottery vase, the result of a collaboration that began in 1947 between the artist and the pottery in the South of France. This one is number 98 from an edition of 100 and is estimated at €15,000-€25,000. Among other highlights are a Famine Ship and a Swans sculpture by Behan and a set of 25 hand coloured acquatints of Malton’s Views of Dublin.
Lady Beatrice Glenavy – The Prayer. UPDATE: THIS MADE 8,500 AT HAMMER
Horses by the Boyne by Nano Reid is estimated at €10,000-€15,000 and Irish women artists and sculptors including Evie Hone, Lady Beatrice Glenavy, Letitia Hamilton, Majella O’Neill Collins, Gladys McCabe, Elizabeth Cope, Norah McGuinness, Elizabeth Brophy, Mary Swanzy, Orla de Bri and Helen Walsh are all represented.
An oil on canvas by George Mounsey Wheatley Atkinson features a shipwreck on a rocky coastline and dates to 1850 and there is a painting of Shipping off Dover by Edwin Hayes. A watercolour by Christy Brown entitled A Village Stroll, a view of Inishlackin by Gerard Dillon, a portrait of an Aran Islander by Sean Keating, an abstract by John Kingerlee and a portrait of Rolling Stone Keith Richards in London in 1982 by John Minihan give some idea of the depth and breadth of subject matter in this sale of 161 lots.
There are etchings and lithographs by artists including Andy Warhol, Sonia Delauney, Joan Miro, Louis le Brocquy, Sean Scully and Georges Braque among an appetising selection of highly affordable art. The auction is on view in Skibbereen from March 29 – 31 and at the RDS in Dublin from April 4-7. The online sale draws to a close from 6.30 pm on April 8.
Sonia Delauney – Morning Light UPDATE: THIS MADE 3,200 AT HAMMER
UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £15,120
This large Killarney davenport by the renowned Irish furniture maker Arthur Jones comes up at Woolley and Wallis in Salisbury on April 10. Inlaid with shamrocks, hearts and panels illustrating Glena Cottage and Muckross Abbey it has close similarities with one illustrated in an article on the development of the davenport by Bernard Hughes in Country Life magazine in 1971. A similar piece forms part of the collection at the Ulster Museum. Arthur Jones led a distinguished Dublin firm that played a significant role in 19th-century Irish furniture design. Lot 618 is estimated at £4,000-£6,000 (€4,780-€7,170).