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This 19th century Vernis Martin escritoire comes up at Sheppards sale of contents of Knocksaintlour House, Cashel on August 15. With a rouge-royale marble top above a painted panelled fall front opening there is a comprehensive fitted writing interior. The estimate is €2,500-€3,500. A total of 360 lots are on offer at a sale where viewing will be at Knocksaintlour House in Cashel on August 12 and 13. The auction will be held in Durrow and online.
Typical. You wait nearly a century and then two come along. Ailerons from the Vickers Vimy bomber flown by Alcock and Brown in the first non-stop transatlantic flight from St. John’s, Newfoundland, to Clifden, Connemara in 1919 are rare. One turned up at Whyte’s in 2018. Now a different one has surfaced and will be auctioned by Purcell Auctioneers in Birr on August 18. At Whyte’s the aileron made €8,500 at hammer. Lot 205 at Purcell’s sale of collectibles and rarities is estimated at €6,000-€8,000. This piece was retrieved by noted local photographer R W Simmons, one of the first on the scene to take photographs for the national newspapers. Purcell’s say it is thence: by descent and gift to the current owner in the early 2000’s. Three hand written descriptions thereon, one of which includes the name of R W Simons (Simmons – renowned Galway based photographer). A paper cutting on the other side reads “£50 for £1. The owner of a Treasury Pound Note carried across the Atlantic by Sir John Alcock on the 1st non-stop flight, has refused £50 for it”.
The plane landed in a bog that appeared from the air to be a suitable green field after less than 16 hours flying time and was damaged after going nose over. Neither of the airmen was hurt. An Alcock and Brown photo/scrapbook made €2,600 over a top estimate of €1,800.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for September 8, 2018).
A still life by the noted Limerick based botanical artist Geraldine M O’Brien and an arresting 1970 lithograph of Noisiu – lover of Deirdre of the Sorrows of Celtic mythology – by Louis le Brocquy are among the works at Morgan O’Driscoll’s current off the wall online Irish art auction. The evening sale on August 8 follows hard on the heels of a successful auction by Morgan O’Driscoll last Monday. This time around the offerings are more affordable. The le Brocquy is a lithograph, number 46 from an edition of 70, and is estimated at €1,500-€2,500. Though Geraldine O’Brien was a celebrated and popular artist her work remains affordable. Still Life – Vase of Flowers is estimated at just €700-€1,000. With a selection from Arthur Maderson and Graham Knuttel to Michael Hales and Annemarie Bourke this big sale has something to suit everyones taste. The catalogue is online.
The doors to the full and fascinating world of Fredde Mercury open today at Sotheby’s in London. Every inch of Sotheby’s 16,000 square foot gallery space in New Bond Street has been given over to the vast array of costumes, hand-written lyrics, drawings, furniture, and decorative and fine art that were so much a part of Mercury’s
life and with which he lived in his beautiful London home, Garden Lodge. At the heart of the exhibition will be the piano pictured here – revealed today for the first time – that was deeply precious to Mercury and a vital element in the creation of his greatest compositions: his treasured Yamaha G2 Baby Grand Piano, estimated at £2-3 million. On it he composed over a decade of hits, from Bohemian Rhapsody to Barcelona.
By 1975, the trusty old upright piano on which Freddie had composed the hits on Queen’s first three albums was no longer equal to his ever more panoramic musical ambitions. With the financial backing of music mogul Don Arden – who was unsuccessfully attempting to woo Queen to his management table – Freddie set out to find the perfect piano, with a sound that resonated with his evolving musical ambitions. After an intensive search lasting many weeks, he finally found what he was looking for: a rare baby grand with an easy keyboard action, an elegant look, and a particularly clean and clear sound, made by the Japanese manufacturer Yamaha, who had only recently started importing their instruments to England. The piano would just about fit into the small apartment he was sharing at the time with Mary Austin. As she recalls, ‘Freddie treated the Yamaha with absolute respect. He considered it to be more than an instrument, it was an extension of himself, his vehicle of creativity. He would never smoke at the piano or rest a glass on top of it and would ensure nobody else did either. The piano was always pristine.’
The new piano very soon proved its worth. In the months after its arrival, he used it to develop and hone the epic track Bohemian Rhapsody, released towards the end of that year. The London exhibition continues until September 5. On September 6, 7 and 8 Sotheby’s will hold three auctions devoted to the Freddie Mercury Collection. Meantime three online Freddie Mercury auctions running to September 11, 12 and 13 will get underway on August 11.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for April 26, 2023)
This oil on canvas by Henry Morgan is lot 11 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s current off the wall online art auction. The estimate is €700-€1,000. Viewing for the auction gets underway today in Skibbereen and the catalogue is online. Bidding ends on the evening of August 8. There is a wide variety of art and artists from Banksy to Bono, Christo to Sheppard Fairey, Harry Kernoff to Louis le Brocquy and many more.
These three early Chinese brush pots made a hammer price of €13,500 on the opening day of Fonsie Mealy’s three day sale in Castlecomer on August 1. The estimate was €1,000-€1,500. The catalogue described lot 289 as a very good carved bamboo brush pot of cylindrical form depicting a large man seated on a rug, 15cms (6″); a Chinese bamboo Brush Pot, carved in deep relief with four figures by a pavilion and two lines of calligraphy and a single oval panel with a phoenix, 13cms (5 1/4″); and a very fine early bamboo Brush Pot, depicting a man with rolling horse in low relief and three lines of calligraphy, 15cms (6″).
Legends: Hollywood and Royalty is hardly an understated title for Julien’s auction celebrating 100 years of Warner Brothers in Beverly Hills on September 6, 7 and 8. The greatest legends of the silver screen will feature alongside evening gowns worn by Princess Diana. Among more than 1,400 lots are matching wedding rings from Bogie and Bacall, Princess Leia’s slave costume from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, a Captain Kirk Starfleet command jacket from from Star Trek, over a dozen Harry Potter prop wands, Blade Runner props from Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling, a Back to the Future hoverboard prop and an array of spectacular one of a kind production artefacts. Hebburn’s dress illustrated here is estimated at $200,000-$400,000.
A watercolour by Nano Reid, Sailing on the Boyne, made a hammer price of €48,000 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s online Irish art sale on July 31. Kilcummin Head, Co. Mayo by Donald Teskey made €36,000, Atlantic Famine Ship by John Behan made €25,000 and Bar-B-Que by Graham Knuttel made €8,000.
René Magritte’s Masked Apples will make their auction debut at Sotheby’s in Paris on October 19 with an estimate of €10-15 million. This is the highest ever estimate for a work of art at Sotheby’s in France. La Valse hésitation depicts two masked apples shrouded in night-time shadows, against the backdrop of a bright blue sky peppered with Magritte’s characteristic clouds. The motif was conceived in the early 1950s, at the same moment as his most important series – L’Empire des Lumières – was similarly seeking to capture the paradox of day meeting night.
The painting has not been seen in public since 1979, where it was the subject of an exhibition at the Galerie Isy Brachot, and has since been treasured in three private collections in the artist’s homeland of Belgium. It is coming to the open market for the first time. The apple is central to Magritte’s oeuvre – and the countless iterations he inspired in popular culture. Here, the apple – an intimate object familiar from the centuries-old artistic tradition of the still life and harking back to the Garden of Eden – is transformed into a mysterious, anthropomorphic character. With the addition of a simple mask, without any facial features, Magritte opens to the door to countless possibilities.
Sotheby’s Paris Modernités auction on 19 October will present works by artists from the emergence of the European avant-garde to the Post-War period, showcasing the modernist movements across Europe and the overlapping dialogues within this rich artistic moment.
A rare Persse’s Galway Whisky mirror from the Nun’s Island Distillery as supplied to the House of Commons comes up as lot 282 at Victor Mee’s sale of pub memorabilia, advertising and collectibles on August 1. With an estimate of €8,000-€16,000 this is the top lot of the auction. The mirror is in its original oak frame. A Good Luck Jack metal Guinness keg from the O’Conor Don pub with a framed photo of Jack Charlton with the same keg is estimated at €600-€1,200, a mahogany bell box in working order has an estimate of €500-€1,000 and an oversized Player’s Please tobacco advertising card is estimated at €800-€1,000. Collectibles include a 1950’s telephone exchange with headset, a chrome and glass Art Deco counter cabinet, a bronze three legged pot and an alloy sign asking people to Please Drive Slowly Through Blarney. The catalogue is online.
