The catalogue for Hegarty’s timed online auction which runs until October 18 has gone online. Around 310 lots of jewellery, art, antique furniture and collectibles are on offer. The sale is taking place using Hegarty’s bidding platform https://live.hegartyantiques.com/
Shakespeare’s First Folio sold for $9,978,000 at Christie’s in New York today. This established a new world auction record for any work of literature. The First Folio was included in ‘The Exceptional Sale’ and exceeded its estimate of $4,000,000-6,000,000. Bringing together for the first time the collected plays of Shakespeare it ranks as the greatest work of the English language and world literature. Already celebrated on its first publication in 1623, it has remained a highly sought-after masterpiece over four centuries. Only six complete copies are known in private hands.
After six minutes of bidding between two other phone bidders, the First Folio was bought via phone bid by Stephan Loewentheil, who commented: “William Shakespeare is incomparably the greatest writer in the English language and one of most important international cultural influencers in all history. The First Folio is the most important collection of plays ever published and revered throughout the world. It is an honor to purchase one of only a handful of complete copies of this epochal volume. It will ultimately serve as a centerpiece of a great collection of intellectual achievements of man. We at the 19th-Century Rare Book and Photograph Shop are pleased you have worked through Christie’s to obtain this wonderful treasure”.
A damask rose ring by Claremorris based goldsmith and jewellery designer Nigel O’Reilly will feature at Sotheby’s sale of Important Jewels in New York on October 22. Designed as a flower it centres on a a pear-shaped diamond weighing 0.54 carat. There is a makers mark for Nigel O’Reilly and Irish hallmarks. A garnet ring by the same maker also features in the sale. He is the first Irish high jewellery master to have work featured at a Sotheby’s Important Jewels sale in New York.
This Lalique opalescent Laurier vase sold for 750 at the James Adam Country House Collections timed online auction on October 12. The sale continues today.
A Louis Quinze marquetry commode and a pair of Sevres ormolu mounted urns anyone? They don’t come cheap but they would definitely add a certain je ne sais quoi to any stylish home. Or how about a pair of 19th century mahogany framed long club seats? You could organise a licit rave for two here in times of pandemic, with a socially distant get together and ample room to stretch out and sleep it off afterwards. These precious items are among the rich pickings at the annual James Adam Country House Collections sale on October 13. Because 2020 is 2020 the annual Townley Hall auction takes place at the Adams saleroom at St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin, not at the stately home near Drogheda designed by Francis Johnston. The plus is that it is online, so you can partake from your computer, by telephone or by absentee bid. And there is a separate timed online Townley auction which runs to around 3 pm on October 12. The 400 lots on offer on Tuesday range from a Moorish door panel to marble portrait busts, a large Black Forest linden wood bear, Chinese rain drums and an Irish George II rococo wall mirror. There are tables, chairs, portraits, landscapes, marble pillars, globes, maps, porcelain, silver and some very fine items of antique furniture. Two 18th century portraits of Henry VIII, in youth and age, are among a number of lots from Bearforest House in Mallow.Pembroke tables can be plain and functional but the example in this auction is a George III satinwood, rosewood banded and marquetry inlaid piece with an estimate of €6,000-€10,000. An Irish George III side table, complete with shaped apron and scallop shell motif, has an estimate of €15,000-€20,000. The estimate for a pair of George III carved giltwood wall girandoles in the Chinoiserie taste is €10,000-€15,000. A large 19th century giltwood overmantle in the Chinoiserie style comes with an estimate of €30,000-€50,000. The highest estimated item, at €40,000-€60,000,, is a portrait of William III and the Duke of Portland attributed to Caspar Netscher (1639-1684).The Louis Quinze commode is a wonderful bombe piece with shaped marble top. The estimate is €6,000-€10,000. The Sevres urns are estimated at €2,000-€3,000 and Adams estimated the Victorian club seats at €1,500-€2,000.
A pair of portraits of William III and the Duke of Portland attributed to Caspar Netscher is, at 40,000-60,000, the most expensively estimated lot at the annual James Adam Country House Collections sale. The full length portraits are contained in contemporary carved giltwood frames. It comes up in Dublin on October 13. Around 800 lots of Irish Georgian furniture, paintings and collectables will come under the hammer in two days of sales. Part I is a timed online auction which runs to October 12, Part II will be held at the Adams salesroom at St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin.
A total of 280,000 people tuned in to Christie’s 20th century evening sale from New York last night. The sale, live streamed from the Rockefeller Center, realised US$340,851,500. The auction of 59 lots was sold 96% by value and 84% by lot. The top lot was Cy Twombly’s Bolsena which made $38 million, STAN, a T-Rex skeleton made $31,847,500 and there was a world record of $28,650,000 for a watercolour by Cezanne.
A rare bottle of old Irish whiskey sold for a hammer price of €5,200 at Victor Mee’s online auction of the McCabe Collection in Co. Cavan today. Dating from the 1880’s the bottle of Cassidy and Co. Monasterevin Whiskey is rare. It is in an unopened hand blown bottle with some evaporation at shoulder level. The Cassidy family made whiskey at their Co. Kildare mill from 1784 until 1921. Businessman Paddy McKillen has restored the Ballykelly mill and plans to open a distillery and visitor centre on the site.
The catalogue for de Veres Art and Design auction on October 20 is now online. There is a mix of classic design furniture and Irish art in this timed online sale of around 200 lots. There are sideboards, cocktail tables, sofas, dining chairs, coffee tables, lighting, easy chairs, mirrors and sculpture. Among the artworks on offer is work by Tony O’Malley, Patrick Scott, Hughie O’Donoghue, Liam O’Neill and Colin Davidson.
Contents from recent house sales in Carrigaline and Bandon will come under the hammer at Woodwards in Cork on October 10). Among the main lots in this online auction are Evening Glandore by Arthur Maderson (€2,500-€3,000), a pair of fold-over tea tables (€1,500-€2,000), a Georgian walnut library table (€1,000-1,500), an Edwardian inlaid card table (€800-€1,200) and a Regency sofa table (€700-€1,000).The selection of furniture includes a satinwood sewing table, a set of six Cork style chairs, an Edwardian walnut cellarette, an Irish Georgian side table, a William IV card table and a demi-lune commode.
