This pair of French 19th century bedside lockers will come up at Victor Mee’s two day online auction from Belturbet, Co. Cavan on April 28 and 29. The sale will feature contents from the home of the late collector Noeleen Adams and features Waterford Crystal chandeliers, antique furniture, ceramic, silver and decorative items and garden furniture. The lockers, with rouge marble tops, are estimated at €400-800. UPDATE: THESE MADE 950 AT HAMMER
The iconic Brunswick bar from Dublin’s Cafe en Seine, established on Dawson St. in 1993, will come under the hammer at Victor Mee’s Iconic Dublin Nightlife sale on May 15 and 16. The auction of 1,544 lots will showcase interior pieces from venues like the Trinity Hotel, The George Nightclub, Howl at the Moon, Cafe en Seine, Bad Bobs and the Dance Macabre Club. Brunswick bars are large, ornate, neo-classical style bars originally created in the 1800s for use in American saloons. Over the years they quickly became recognised features in bars and pubs throughout the world and are now highly sought-after by collectors. Complete with pillars, mirrors and shelving this one is estimated at €3,000-5,000.
A 1957 drawing of Eamon de Valera by Frank Sanquest, a Clarice Cliff vase, a camel back Irish design settee, an antique fireplace and a William IV Irish dining table which fully extended can seat 12-14 are among the lots at the online Lynes and Lynes sale in Carrigtwohill, Co. Cork on April 24.
Estimated at €2,500-€3,500 the c1840 dining table can adjust to different sizes and the end section can be used as a side table. Auction sales in Ireland have become far more competitive because of the introduction of import duties from the UK due to Brexit, a fact not lost on collectors and the trade. This one offers 266 lots including executors contents from properties in west Cork and Cork city. There is a collection of books from a Glanmire residence and an oil on canvas by Eric Patton of The International Brigade, Spain 1936-39. The artist Eric Patton designed a series of Irish stamps to commemorate Irish Impressionist painters in 1980 and a series of paintings on The Wild Geese, Irish brigades in the service of France in the 17th and 18th century. A lithograph of Queenstown by R.L. Stopford is estimated at €200-€300.
The late artist Frank Sanquest drew Eamon de Valera from life when he was Ireland’s President. The portrait is estimated at €300-€500. There are framed 18th century panoramic views of both Cork City and Kinsale, each estimated at €200-€300.The sale offers a camel back Irish design settee (€300-500), a pine Victorian breakfront cabinet with carved back (€300-€500), an antique pine fireplace (€400-€600) and a set of Cork 9-bar chairs (€1,000-€1,500). There is an unusual Edwardian travelling wardrobe in the form of a leather suitcase, a stitched 18th century china tureen and a copy of Hugh Lane by Thomas Bodkin, with an inscription from the author to Senator Jennie Dowdall, the first female Lord Mayor of Cork.
A Queen Anne Irish silver tankard by Robert Goble, Cork c1700 sold for £21,250 at Christie’s in London today. From the collection of Mrs. Henry Ford II from Eaton Square in London and Turville Grange in Buckinghamshire it had been estimated at £3,000-£5,000.
Also from the Kathleen Ford collection was a set of seven George III silver dishes by Robert Calderwood, Dublin c1760. Complete with the St. Leger arms from Doneraile in Co. Cork these sold for £17,500 over a top estimate of £8,000. The arms are those of St. Ledger with Deane in pretence, for Hayes St. Ledger, 4th Viscount Doneraile (1702-1767), of Doneraile Court, Co. Cork, M.P. for Doneraile, and his wife Elizabeth (d.1768), daughter and heiress of the Rt. Hon Joseph Deane (1575-1715), Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer of Ireland, whom he married in 1722. The large meat dish was at the sale of the property of Mary, Viscountess Doneraile; Sotheby’s, London, at Sotheby’s in London in 1958 and from there it passed into the estate of Henry Ford II. A pair of George II Irish silver counter dishes by John McLoughlin, Dublin c1740 and an Irish silver salver by George Hodder, Cork c1760 sold as one lot for £10,000 over a top estimate of £3,500.
Two paintings by May Guinness RHA, Girl Reading and Autumn Flowers sold for £18,750 and £16,250 over top estimates of £8,000 and £10,000.
The auction achieved £3.98 million and was 96% sold by lot and 93% sold by value. The final total for the combined Ford Collection sales was £22.5 million. Bidders from 35 countries took part.
(See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for February 8, March 27 and April 11, 2021)
This 17th century William and Mary oak and elm refectory table is lot 17 at the James Adam timed online Library Collection sale which begins to close at 2 pm today. The planked top is in figured elm above a carved frieze with a trailing leaf pattern. It is carved with the initials WB and dated 1649. The table is estimated at €5,000-8,000. UPDATE: THIS WAS BID TO 4,200 AND WITHDRAWN.
With everything from a Georgian oak cased tavern wall clock to designer loungers the Easter Interiors and Historical sale by Victor Mee Auctioneers in conjunction with Niall Mullen showcases items from the 18th century to the present day. The auction of 1,214 lots is online today and tomorrow and includes items from the collection of late antique dealer and owner of Beaufield Mews Jill Cox.
This set of four Irish silver candlesticks made in Dublin c1760 features at Sotheby’s New York sale of European Furniture, Silver and Ceramics running online until April 19. There are no makers marks but the set is estimated at $12,000-$18,000. Other Irish lots on the catalogue include an Irish George II Revival mahogany side table with marble top and a silver porringer. UPDATE: THESE SOLD FOR $20,160
Among the lots at the evening sale of The Fitzwilliam Square collection at Adams, Blackrock, Dublin today (April 13) is this ornate 19th century giltwood Irish pier mirror. There is a canopied pediment above seated figures flanked by birds and scrolled rockwork branches carved with dogs. It is conservatively estimated at €1,000-€1,500. There are 432 lots of fine art, furniture and silver and the auction gets underway at 6 pm.
Decorative and fine arts from the London and country homes of Mrs. Henry Ford at Eaton Square and Turville Grange, Oxfordshire will come under the hammer at Christie’s on April 15. The sale is led by Impressionist works including a self portrait by Edouard Vuillard. The decorative arts are led by a Louis XV ormolu-mounted Chinese black-lacquer commode by Laurent Felix and a George III Pembroke table attributed to Thomas Chippendale. Silver includes a George VI silver cigar box inset with grass from the sod cut by Edsel Ford in 1929 when breaking ground for the Dagenham Ford motor factory.
The ricochet effect of the pandemic in our beckoning post lockdown world is a cause for speculation. Many new online buyers at auction houses are tech savvy youngsters. This much needed infusion is a sign of hope for the future of the trade. Whether they incline to online buying post lockdown, or turn up in person to bid is anyones guess. Auction action online is now normal, as distinct from new normal, and collectors can and do expect to range far and wide in pursuit of more variety and price points in any given week than ever before. So what next? In the immediate future there is more than enough art, antique furniture, collectibles and historical memorabilia at auction in Ireland to keep us all occupied and out of trouble.
An oil by Arthur Maderson (€6,000-€8,000) and a set of Cork 11 bar dining chairs (€1,500-€2,000) are among the highlights at Woodwards sale in Cork on April 17. More than 300 lots will come under the hammer. Among them are a Louis XV bonheur du jour (€1,000-€2,000), a George II card table (€750-€1,500), a Queen Anne walnut chest on stand (€1,000-€1,600), a five piece cast iron garden suite (€1,600-€2,200) and a Georgian walnut card table (€700-€1,500).
The range of antique furniture at Woodwards includes a walnut davenport, an Edwardian bow fronted sideboard, a William IV rosewood card table, a Regency tip top table, a Georgian drop leaf dining table, a three tier dumb waiter, an Edwardian knife box and a selection of cellos and violins. There is a silver owl pepperette by George Richards, an ormolu figured mantel clock, a mariners brass theodolite, an Art Deco dancing figure and a Cork Distillers Irish Whiskey sign.
The April version of the new monthly timed online auction at Hegarty’s features over 300 lots and closes on April 11. Highlights this time include a coloured limited edition lithograph by Mark Chagall of a stained glass window, a Royal Humane Society Award given in 1904, an oil of the Great Mosque, Cairo by Peter Sunderland, a collection of antique optometry equipment and an electric machine for nervous diseases patented in 1854.
Among the 196 lots that Morgan O’Driscoll will offer at his Irish and International online art sale on April 19 are two major head studies by Louis le Brocquy of August Strindberg and William Shakespeare from 1980 and 1981 respectively. Each one is estimated at €100,000-€150,000. In a catalogue note Peter Murray recounts how, one day in 1964 at a time when the artist was feeling dissatisfied and unable to find a way forward, he chanced to visit the Musee de l’Homme in Paris was inspired by a selection of Polynesian painted skulls. The Celts visualised the head as a kind of magic box housing the spirit and le Brocquy was directed towards the idea of encapsulating a lost human presence rather than a living portrait subject. A three day house clearance auction by Matthews of Kells gets underway online at noon today. On offer are contents from the Co. Louth home of the late Professor Kieran Taaffe, head of international affairs at Dublin Institute of Technology and a lifetime collector. More than 2,100 lots will be sold including Irish and International art, old silver, antique furniture, rugs, gilded mirrors, books, oriental items and collectibles.
Meantime the Co. Cavan auctioneer Victor Mee will offer a selection of 1,206 lots at an online Easter interiors and historical sale on Aril 13 and 14.