19th century padauk gallery back side table. UPDATE: THIS MADE 550 AT HAMMER
This profusely carved 19th century padauk side table with gallery back comes up at Sean Eacrett’s timed New Year auction which runs until January 5. The estimate is €500-€800. It is lot 737 in a sale of more than 1,300 lots which includes Lady Lavery £100 notes, furniture, jewellery, Oriental rugs, art and collectibles. The catalogue is online.
GEORGE II CORK SILVER JUG. UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,600 AT HAMMER
Watches, jewellery and a Cork silver jug are among feature lots at Hegarty’s live online auction on January 8. A total of 350 lots, among them this c1750 cream jug by George Hodder (€2,400-€3,400) will come under the hammer. A yellow gold acquamarine and diamond ring and a diamond and ruby cluster ring are each estimated at €2,500-€3,500 and the sale will feature some antique furniture, art, silver and collectibles.
The Joachim-Ma Stradivarius. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $11,250,000
The Joachin-Ma Stradivarius, one of the world’s finest violins, will come up at Sotheby’s in New York next February with an estimate of $12 million – $18 million (€11.34 million – €17 million). Crafted in 1714 by Antonio Stradivari during his renowned “Golden Period” it is being offered by the New England Conservatory with all proceeds dedicated to student scholarships. Before it was gifted to NEC it belonged to the late Si-Hon Ma, a violinist and pedagogue who graduated from NEC in the 1950s. It was given to the school with the provision that it could one day be sold to provide student scholarships. Before Ma, the violin was owned by Joseph Joachim whose collaborations with composers like Johannes Brahms shaped the course of classical music. It is likely that this violin premiered the Brahms Violin Concerto in 1879 asJoachim was one of the most influential violinists of the 19th century. What sets the Joachim-Ma Stradivarius apart according to Sotheby’s is its exceptional sound—rich, complex, and full of depth. The tone is both sweet and rounded.
SANDRO BOTTICELLI – The Virgin and Child Enthroned
The Virgin and Child Enthroned by Sandro Botticelli was the top lot at Sotheby’s Old Master and 19th century painting sale in London. Itmade £9.9 million. (€11.95 million).
Murano glass and glided metal lily pad wall light originally from The Savoy Hotel London (€500-1,000) UPDATE; THESE WERE UNSOLD
Lily pad Murano glass wall lights once at the Savoy Hotel in London, a pair of gilded bronze tables in the Maison Jansen style, a silk and metal thread Oriental rug, a 1900’s Louis Vuitton travelling trunk and a rare pair of nearly life size wooden ancestral figures from Sulawesi Island, Indonesia all feature at Victor Mee’s spectacular end of year interiors online sale on December 30. More than 800 lots will come under the hammer and they will be on view in Cloverhill, Co. Cavan on December 28 and 29.
One of a pair of nearly life size wooden ancestral figures from Sulawesi Island Indonesia (€1,500-3,000).
UPDATE: THESE MADE 2,200 AT HAMMER
Argor-Heraeus Switzerland Fine 999.9 100 Gram Gold Bar Encapsulated. UPDATE: THIS MADE 6,350 AT HAMMER
All that glisters or just gold? The choice is yours at Matthews annual two day holiday auction online on December 29 and 30. There will be viewing in Kells on December 28 and 29 for a sale that includes gold bars and sovereigns, Kruggerands and various coins and medals along with jewellery and silver and antiques and art. Prime lots include this 100 gram gold bar (€5,000-€8,000) and a pair of 1920’s old European cut diamond set earrings weighing 2.2 carats each (€12,000-€18,000). Gold hit new highs in 2024 and the forecast price for 2025 looks positive, though that could change.
Pair of 1920’s old European cut diamond set earrings. UPDATE: THESE MADE 12,000 AT HAMMER
Titian’s Rest on the Flight into Egypt sold for a record-breaking £17.6 million in July
Christie’s is projecting $5.7 billion in global sales in 2024, down 6% on $6.1 billion in 2023. Auction sales at $4.2 billion were down by 16% ($5 billion in 2023) and private sales at $1.5 billion were up by 41%. A total of 81% of bids were placed online compared with 78% the previous year. A company statement said that in 2024 Christie’s experienced a strengthening of auction sales as the year progressed, together with outstanding results for private sales throughout.
“Our key performance indicators of overall sell through rate of 86%, hammer vs. low estimate index at 112% and bidders per lot of 3.7 all showed growth year over year, indicating that our strategy and focus resonated with sellers and buyers. We sold the most valuable work of the year René Magritte’s L’empire des lumières for $121.2 million from the Mica Ertegun collection; the only lot to sell for over $100 million globally. Christie’s also sold the most valuable jewel of the year, The Eden Rose, for $13.4 million in New York in June.
The America’s contrubuted around 41% to global sales, Europe, the Middle East and Africa contributed around 32%.
FRIDAY FARE BY NANO REID SOLD FOR £57,600 AT SOTHEBYS MODERN BRITISH AND IRISH SALE IN LONDON IN NOVEMBER
Sotheby’s is to close its Irish office at the end of February as part of an international cost cutting exercise. The company plans to continue to serve its Irish clients in ways that are as yet unannounced. The Irish office opened first in 1978 and Arabella Bishop has been Irish Director for the past 25 years.
Trade restrictions that followed Britain’s departure from the EU created extra expense and red tape for the London auctioneers when it came to sourcing works here for sale in London. Sotheby’s is suffering internationally from a decline in auction sales, about 70 staff in London have recently been let go, offices in Moscow and Bangkok have been closed and presence in other cities has been reduced. Layoffs globally account for about six per cent of the workforce. Sotheby’s has faced increasing competition from online platforms and niche marketplaces that cater to a new generation of collectors. This cost-cutting follows the taking of a minority stake in the company, owned by French Israeli businessman Patrick Drahi, by an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, in a deal valued at $1bn.
UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $5,040,000
The earliest surviving inscribed tablet of the Ten Commandments, incised during the late Roman-Byzantine era, comes up at Sotheby’s in New York on December 18. The only complete example of a ten commandments tablet from this era – 300-800 AD – is estimated at $1 million – $2 million. The white marble table is chisel-inscribed with the Mosaic Ten Commandments in their Israelite Samaritan version, 20 lines in a Paleo-Hebrew script, each line containing between eleven and fifteen characters, with margins of about 10 cm on either side; the letters have a width of between one and 2 cm and words are separated from one another with one or two dots; a few letters are confused for each other (especially ? and ?) and a few characters on the right side of the first two lines are effaced and re-inscribed.
Weighing 115 pounds and measuring approximately two feet in height, it is now called the Yavne Tablet after the city on the coastal plain of the Land of Israel near where it was?rediscovered more than a century ago. This monumental, incised marble slab was serendipitously uncovered during excavations for a railroad track running through the Land of Israel to Egypt. The significance of the discovery went unrecognised for many decades, and for thirty years it served as a paving stone in a local home.
A ruby and diamond bracelet
Fresh from the success of a Fine Jewellery sale earlier this month where the top lot, a Bulgari ruby and diamond dress ring, made €40,000, double the top estimate, the Adams jewellery box online only sale runs until December 17. The catalogue features 370 lots. A group of three enamel brooches each designed as a bow, an emerald and diamond torque necklace, a ruby and diamond bracelet and a gold and diamond brooch designed as a ballerina are all included.
UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD. The top lot was a synthetic sapphire and diamond bracelet which made €7,500 at hammer.