The original working text for Alcoholics Anonymous is at Christie’s in New York on July 1 with an estimate of $1 million – $2 million. The Big Book – which launched the 12 steps movement – changed countless lives, became one of the most influential works of the 20th century, sold more than 30 million copies and was classified by the Library of Congress as one of the 88 “Books that Shaped America”. The document, complete with extensive handwritten notations and edits by authors Bill Wilson (1895-1971) and Hank Parkhurst (1895-1954), is from the collection of late billionaire and ceo of the Indianapolis Colts Jim Irsay. Wilson was a businessman who by 1934 had lost his career on Wall St., his reputation and his health. Parkhurst was a former Standard Oil executive and gifted organiser who met Wilson in New York in 1937 after getting sober.
A square timber summer house purchased at the dispersal sale at Kilkenny Castle in 1935 is among the rarities at Sheppards annual Glantelwe Gardens sale in Durrow next Tuesday (June 30) and Wednesday. It was designed to revolve on an iron wheel mechanism to follow the course of the sun throughout the day. The roof is now absent, steeply pitched gable ends have survived. The estimate is €3,000-€5,000.
The top lot is an impressive architectural garden folly. The circular carved stone temple is estimated at €15,000-€25,000. The sale offers everything from weathered staddle stones and 19th century turnstiles converted to tables to bronze fountains, garden seats, gazebos, stone piers, troughs, gates and architectural salvage sourced from private collections, country houses and gardens. Sheppards say that this popular annual event is Ireland’s only auction presented in a garden setting. The live and online auction with 749 lots is on view in nearly three acres of gardens from today (June 27).
A circular stone temple or garden pavilion at Sheppards.
The Mayor Gallery, London shows Minding his own Business by Patrick O’Reilly at Treasure House.
From Old Master paintings, antiquities, sculpture and rare books to a prehistoric woolly mammoth head and Galileo’s first drawing of the moon the incredible London season now in full swing continues on its merry way.
London’s flagship Treasure House Fair continues at the Royal Hospital in Chelsea this weekend, it is Classic Week at Christie’s and Sotheby’s offerings next week include Scene in Braemar by Sir Edwin Landseer, a little known sister painting to The Monarch of the Glen.
In Ireland summer online sales of much more affordable art will be held at Whyte’s on Monday June 29 and Morgan O’Driscoll on Tuesday June 30. It all adds up to a very healthy market for art and collectibles.
The trove of masterpieces at Treasure House includes a 25,000 year old woolly mammoth head, drawings by Gallileo, a luxurious dog house made for Marie Antoinette’s favourite pet, a pair of commodes owned by Madame du Pompadour, jewels from the era of Henry VIII and Shakespeare, an exhibition of contemporary British women artists, a show of British Surrealism and a sculpture walk with monumental artworks by Eduardo Paolozzi, Elizabeth Frink, Ron Arad, Nicola Anthony and Patrick O’Reilly.
Sir Thomas Lawrence – Portrait of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, at Christie’s.
Christie’s has an estimate of £8 million – £12 million (€9.22 million – €13.83 million) on Sir Thomas Lawrence’s portrait of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. In this portrait painted after Wellington’s defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo the artist succeeded in penetrating Wellington’s aura of heroism to capture the essence of the man. The Old Master’s sale takes place next Tuesday evening (June 30). Sales during Classic Week feature art from antiquity to the 21st century.
Sir Edwin Landseer – Scene in Braemar at Sotheby’s.
The estimate for Landseer’s Scene at Braemar at Sotheby’s on the following evening (July 1) is £3 million – £4 million (€3.46 million – €4.61 million). Painted in 1857 the nearly nine foot canvas is a darker sister painting to the iconic and renowned Monarch of the Glen.
Rosaleen Brigid Ganly (1909-2002) – Stargazer Lily at Whyte’s.
There is a good selection of affordable art at Whyte’s summer online art auction which gets underway at 6 pm next Monday (June 29). The catalogue features 241 lots and includes work by Jack Butler Yeats, Walter Osborne, Estella Solomons, Eva Hamilton, Harry Kernoff, Dan O’Neill, Henry Moore, James Brohan, Liam Treacy, Banksy, Nelson Mandela, Brigid Ganly and many more artists. The most expensively estimated lots are Fishing Boats by James Brohan an d Self Portrait by Eva Hamilton, each estimated at €2,500-€3,500. The Tennis Court, a signed lithograph by Nelson Mandela from his Robben Island series, is estimated at €2,000-€3,000.
Majella O’Neill Collins (b.1964) – Returning home to Sherkin Island at Morgan O’Driscoll
Morgan O’Driscoll’s off the wall online sale of affordable art is on view in Skibbereen next Monday and Tuesday. It gets underway at 6.30 pm on Tuesday (June 30) and the catalogue is online. An oil on board of Montpellier by Arthur Maderson carries the highest estimate of €4,000-€6,000. There is art by a wide variety of artists including William Crozier, Paul Henry, Damien Hirst, Robert Ballagh, Shepard Fairey, Andy Warhol, Jack B Yeats, Jim Sheehy, George Campbell and John Behan.
The 1823 2nd edition of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The Moore St. flag of Truce from the Easter Rising was the top lot at Fonsie Mealy’s rare book and collectors sale. It made a hammer price of €62,000. Other leading hammer prices were: A rare edition of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (€24,000), Kevin Barry’s personal crucifix and scapular (€19,000), a first edition of Adam Smith’s Inquiry into the wealth of nations (€15,000), an archive from the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin (€15,000), a programme for the 1914 All Ireland Football Final (€14,000), a 2nd edition of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (€9,500), a 1795 general atlas by Thomas Kitchin and others (€9,000), a rare 1918 Irish Proclamation (€8,500) and the Carton House music collection (€8,000).
(See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for June 20 and June 13, 2026)
This Qianlong Famille Rose ‘Boy and Chicken’ cup made a hammer price of €115,000 at Adam’s sale of Fine Asian Art in Dublin today. It had been estimated at €20,000-€30,000. Cups of this type derive from earlier Chenghua doucai prototypes, particularly chicken-decorated examples. All bear the mark Da Qing Qianlong Fanggu ‘made in imitation of antiquity’ reflecting the Qianlong emperor’s strong interest in archaism. The inscription praises earlier artistic traditions, especially Ming dynasty chicken cups.
A possibly imperial Le Shan Tang seal made €55,000 at hammer, a pair of Imperial copper enamel painted dragon and phoenix covered ewers made €50,000, an Imperial white jade lança bowl made €34,000 and a celadon jade carving of a horse of sea made €15,000.
The Gaiety Theatre archive. UPDATE: THIS MADE 15,000 AT HAMMER
From the rapid construction of the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin in 1871 to an incredibly rare 1823 second edition of Frankenstein, the Carton House music collection to the earliest printed house contents sale catalogue in Ireland, Fonsie Mealy’s rare book and collections sale in Castlecomer next week covers a multitude.
The catalogue includes the fascinating fact that the much loved Gaiety Theatre – which opened in 1871 and continues merrily to this day – was reputedly built in just 28 weeks from start to finish. Contrast that with a certain Events Centre in Cork where the first sod was turned ten and a half years ago and sod all has happened since. An archive of around 200 vellum patents and legal documents relating to The Gaiety – Sarah Bernhardt, Eileen Terry, Pavarotti, Maureen Potter, Jimmy O’Dea and the D’Oyly Carte Company have all performed here – is estimated at €7,000-€9,000.
A letter signed by Michael Collins as Minister for Finance. UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,500 AT HAMMER
The Carton House collection of 18th and 19th century music, purchased at the 1949 dispersal sale, is among the largest collections of music from an Irish stately home to come to market. Music by Handel, Beethoven and Haydn is included among 45 volumes in original calf bindings, many signed by the Duke of Leinster (€5,000-€7,000).
The newly discovered catalogue by Baillie Auctioneer for the sale of the goods of the late Edward Wingfield at Powerscourt and his house in Dublin (€3,000-€5,000) announces (confusingly) that it will begin .. “on Tuesday the 25th day of February 1728-29 and to continue till all are sold”. It lists contents from 45 rooms with lots ranging from 24 fine walnut chairs with Barbary leather seats, a Turkey carpet, five pairs of yellow Indian damask curtains to “One young black Stone Horse fit for an officer” and a stage coach with a new seat cloth never used since it was re-lined.
A 1951-52 photograph of Brendan Behan and Micheal MacLiammoir signed by Daniel Farson. UPDATE: THIS MADE 700 AT HAMMER
Irish and international literature is headed by a rare 1823 edition of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, a second (1813) edition of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and a signed limited edition printing of Bog Poems by Seamus Heaney. A sonnet handwritten by William Wordsworth with provenance to the de Veres of Curragh Chase and the O’Briens of Dromoland Castle is estimated at €1,500-€2,000. A 1951-52 photograph of Brendan Behan and Michael MacLiammoir by Daniel Farson (€700-€900) and a first (1957) edition of From Russia with Love by Ian Fleming (€350-€420) feature among the fascinating lots.
The most expensively estimated of these is the Moore St. flag of Truce, a white linen handkerchief used by Volunteers to surrender during the East Rising (€10,000-€15,000). There is a rare 1918 printing of The Proclamation of the Irish Republic, a 1916 Volunteers green tunic and a 1920 letter signed by Michael Collins as Minister for Finance.
Sporting memorabilia includes a programme for an early soccer international between Ireland and England at Goodison Park, Liverpool in 1907 and a 1914 All Ireland football final programme between Kerry and Wexford which ended in a draw.
The three day sale takes place next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday June 23, 24 and 25. It is on view in Castlecomer on the afternoon of June 21 and from 10 am to 5 pm on June 22. The catalogue is online.
Ist Edition From Russia with Love UPDATE: THIS MADE 400 AT HAMMER
Aidan Foley’s online evening auctions on June 22 and 23, now on view in Doneraile, offer 122 lots of paintings and prints headed by a Translucent Study by Francis Tansey and a pencil sketch of Lily Yeats by John Butler Yeats. There is a Regency style three pillar dining table, a Victorian boot and stick stand, a Victorian oak consul table, an Edwardian Sutherland table and a pair of gilt framed armchairs among a selection of 82 lots of furniture. A selection of pub memorabilia, garden furniture, porcelain and crystal and a wide variety of collectibles is on offer.
A gem set and diamond bracelet. UPDATE: THIS MADE 7,000 AT HAMMER
This gem set and diamond bracelet is among the leading lots at Adam’s Jewellery Box sale in Dublin on June 23. Mounted in 18 carat gold with partial Italian registry marks it contains rubies, sapphires, emeralds, citrines, amethysts, tourmalines, peridots, aquamarines topazes, morganites and diamonds. The estimate is €7,000-€8,000. A total of 336 lots will come under the hammer.
ART DECO WALNUT AND CHROME CONSOLE TABLE. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,200
This Art Deco console table of inverted triangular form is lot 89 at Mullen’s timed online auction which runs at Laurel Park, Bray, Co. Wicklow until the evening of June 21. The estimate is €1,200-€1,800. There are 629 lots on a catalogue which features art, twenty lots of garden furniture, furniture and a wide selection of collectibles.
A FAMILLE ROSE EXPORT PORCELAIN ‘SCOTSMEN’ PLATE. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
One of the more unusual lots at Adam’s Asian and Tribal art auction on June 25 is this Qianlong Scotsmen plate. The ‘Scotsmen’ or ‘Highlanders’ decoration count as one of the most important and iconic imageries seen on Chinese export art. The figures in the centre depict a piper and a private from the 42nd Regiment of Foot, a predecessor to the famous Black Watch. Members of the regiment deserted the Stuart cause, known as Jacobitism, which aimed to restore the House of Stuart to the throne. On July 18, 1743, Corporals Samuel and Malcolm McPherson and Private Farquar Shaw were executed at the Tower for the mutiny, and a Piper Macdonnel was sent to Georgia, USA, as a convict. These men were seen as Jacobite martyrs, and memorialised on plates and punch bowls bearing these figures. This plate dates to 1745-50 and is estimated at €1,500-€3,000.
