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NEVILLE BATH – The County of Cork surveyed. UPDATE: THIS MADE €1,600 AT HAMMER
A linen backed map of The County of Cork in 1811 by the land surveyor Neville Bath leads the timed online books and works on paper auction by James Adam in Dublin. The sale runs until July 17. The survey, carried out by order of The Grand Jury of the County, is estimated at €2,000-€3,000.
Sheppards will auction contents from this room at Royal Terrace West in Dun Laoghaire
Take a close look at this photograph of one of the reception rooms at 6 Royal Terrace West, Dun Laoghaire and you will undoubtedly agree that it is elegant, comfortable, lived in and loved. This was home to the late collectors Philip and Constance Murphy and Sheppards will auction their contents on July 15-16.
Because this room might not appear to be particularly fashionable in the current sense this auction offers a real opportunity for collectors. Take another look at the furniture in the room. The view from left to the middle of the picture reveals a Georgian sofa table, a Regency teapoy on tripod base in the window, a 19th century upholstered mahogany footstool, a mahogany open bookcase with fluted uprights and a three seater sofa.
At 2025 prices these five pieces are respectively estimated at €500-€800, €250-€350, €150-€250, €200-€300 and €300-€500. The lower estimates add up to just €1,400, the upper ones to €2,200. Even with the addition of fees of around 25%-30% including VAT prices like this represent startling value. Wonderful for buyers, not such good news for sellers.
Donegal runner designed by CFA Voysey UPDATE: THIS MADE €3,400 at hammer
At the very least the Murphys, as real collectors, will have experienced the joys of putting that room together over many years, of adding, subtracting and replacing pieces and greatly enjoying their home.
Continuing on our visual journey around this room we come across two Victorian armchairs, one with scroll arms, a Victorian Canterbury, a Victorian circular mahogany table, an Edwardian inlaid mahogany cabinet on stand, two upholstered wingback armchairs and a pair of Chinese red lacquer blanket chests doing duty as side tables.
The Victorian button back armchairs are each estimated at €200-€300, the Canterbury at €200-€300, the circular table at €400-€600, the cabinet on stand at €400-€600, the upholstered wingback armchairs at €150-€250 each and the pair of Chinese lacquered chests at €400-€600.
The front of a Georgian bureau bookcase can be glimpsed to the far right of the picture and this is estimated at just €500-€800.
A white Jambala Thangka or traditional Tibetan Buddhist painting on fabric. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 301
The auction is on view at the classic Victorian terraced house at Royal Terrace West on today, tomorrow and Monday from 10 am to 5 pm on each day. The sale of just over 1,000 lots will take place in Durrow and online.
19th century French gilt mantle clock with Daniel in the Lion’s Den. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
A c1770 Cork silver coffee pot by John Nicholson. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
Silver, jewellery, art, rugs, furniture and collectibles will come under the hammer at Hegarty’s live online auction on July 16. Top lots include a George III Cork silver coffee pot by John Nicholson. The highly collectible c1770 piece is of baluster form, raised on a circular foot, with a cartouche, a family coat of arms and a hardwood handle. The estimate is €10,000-€12,000. At Hegarty’s last sale on June 26 a rare Irish silver cream ewer by Joseph Johns of Limerick from the same collection made €4,600 at hammer.
In a sale with a rich selection of rings a round, brilliant cut diamond solitaire of 2.02 carats and earrings is estimated at €10,000-€12,000. A Cartier cluster ring has an estimate of €7,500-€8,500, an Irish made gold, emerald and diamond ring is estimated at €2,000-€3,000 and a pair of Tiffany silver hoop earrings is estimated at €180-€220. An early panoramic oil on board of the Irish countryside by Norman McCaig is estimated at €800-€1,200 and Isabella, a sketch by John Butler Yeats, has an estimate of €700-€900. The catalogue is online.
Panoramic oil on board by Norman McCaig. UPDATE: THIS LOT WAS WITHDRAWN
Hermès, The Original Birkin Crafted For Jane Birkin, 1985
The original Birkin bag sold for world record €8,582,500 at Sotheby’s in Paris today. The black leather bag was made for Jane Birkin in 1985 after she spilled her belongings while sitting next to the Jean-Louis Dumas, head of luxury fashion house Hermès on a flight. She asked why they didn’t make bigger bags, so he sketched out the design for a new, more practical but still highly desirable item on the aeroplane’s sick bag. The Birkin bag became a modern icon and the most coveted bag in the world.
The prototype he made went to a private collector from Japan after a ten minute bidding war between nine collectors. Birkin, who died in 2023 at the age of 76 was a British and French singer, actor and designer whose steamy 1969 hit “Je t’aime moi non plus” with Serge Gainsbourg became a classic.
The price crushed the previous auction record for a handbag — $513,040 paid in 2021 for a Hermès White Himalaya Niloticus Crocodile Diamond Retourne Kelly 28.
PAIR OF WILLIAM IV MAHOGANY X-FRAME WINDOW SEATS. UPDATE: THIS LOT WAS WITHDRAWN
This pair of William IV window seats are lot 58 at the James Adam timed online warehouse auction which runs until July 18. Complete with twist turns and cross stretchers and brown leather horsehair padded seats they are estimated at €1,000-2,000. More than 400 lots of art, furniture, silver and collectibles will come under the hammer with viewing at Adams Warehouse in Dublin from July 16. The catalogue is online now.
Early Penal Cross
This early Penal Cross made a hammer price of €2,900 over a top estimate of €1,200 at Usher Auctions sale in Kells on July 7. Irish Penal Crosses are a survival from the 18th and early 19th centuries when religious practice for catholics was forbidden by the Penal Laws. These devotional objects were often carried by people at a time when public displays of catholicism was suppressed and catholic mass was held in secret. The small size of the cross meant that it could be carried by a priest up his sleeve.
This group of gold US Indian Head coins made €10,000 at hammer at Adams.
All that glisters is not gold is an aphorism that collectors need to be aware of always, especially now. In these uncertain times there is nothing remotely uncertain about the strong demand for a precious metal that is a long term hedge against inflation and falling values.
Always a safe haven for money in a stormy climate gold – headed by a group of nine American gold eagle ten dollar Indian head coins from 1926 – made up no less than eight of the top ten lots at Adams Jewellery Box sale in Dublin on June 24. They were the top lot of the auction and made €10,000 at hammer. A collection of 26 gold half sovereigns made €7,500, a group of 12 gold sovereigns made €6,500, 23 Victorian half sovereigns made €6,000 and other gold coins in the top ten made hammer prices of €6,000, €5,500 and €5,000.
A 1913 centrepiece by West and Son with Celtic Revival detailing at Sheppards. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
Where all that leaves everything else on the auction market in Ireland right now is an open question. All sorts of collectibles are selling well, Irish art continues to be a mainstay, demand for antique furniture remains pretty much in the doldrums and demand across the board can best be described as variable.
House sales are always a draw. Sheppards will offer contents from a classic Victorian house at 6 Royal Terrace in the leafy suburbs of Dun Laoghaire on July 15 and 16. There will be much interest in the collection of lawyer Philip Murphy who died last year. His father J.T. Murphy served as a Labour Party TD for west Cork from 1923 until his sudden death in 1949 at which point he was Minister for Local Government in the John A Costello government.
Philip Murphy and his late wife Constance were collectors of everything from Killarney ware and antique clocks to silver, Arts and Crafts carpets and oriental art. Among the prime lots in the sale are an 18th century Irish ebonised bracket clock by Graydon, Dublin (€4,000-€6,000), a Donegal runner by C.F.A. Voysey (€3,000-€6,000), a Guangxu lime glazed bowl (€3,000-€6,000), a pair of Ottoman flintlock pistols (€2,000-€3,000), a West and Son Irish silver Celtic Revival centrepiece from 1913 (€2,000-€3,000), a Killarney games box (€1,400-€1,800), two Killarney writing boxes and a Killarney ware box, each estimated at €800-€1,200 and a 19th century marine chronometer by Thomas Roberts, Liverpool (€4,000-€6,000).
A Warming Glow by Mark O’Neill at Aidan Foley’s auction.
Art by Mark O’Neill, Graham Knuttel, Markey Robinson, Louis le Brocquy and John Butler Yeats will feature at Aidan Foley’s auction at 6 pm on both next Monday and Tuesday evening (July 7 and 8). This is a sale of art, antique furniture, garden statuary and collectibles offering everything from a Georgian oak coffer and a Killarney wood trinket box to Victorian games, tea and dining tables and Oriental rugs and runners.
A double weight Vienna wall clock in walnut is estimated at just €200-€400, as is an 18th century oval drop leaf dining table and a Victorian parquetry inlaid side table. Tribal art is always of interest and a large carved African mask is estimated at just €60-€100. Choices range from a coromandel wood games box ((€60-€80) and a vintage Babycham dish for nibbles (€40-€80) to a pair of large blue and white platters (€200-€300) and a Tiffany style table lamp (€200-€250). The auction is on view in Doneraile on today, tomorrow and Monday.
A selection of the jewellery on offer at Matthews in Kells.
Should you decide to go in search of gold you will find it at Matthews sale in Kells on tomorrow and Monday. Lot 538 is a US Liberty double eagle 1903 gold 20 dollar coin (€1,500-€2,500). A Queen Elizabeth II gold sovereign is estimated at €400-€700 and a 1905 half sovereign is estimated at €200-€300. The top lot is an Art Deco diamond link bracelet mounted in platinum (€20,000-€30,000) and the sale offers a wide selection of desirable pieces.
The Gladstone Missal, use of Rome, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum, Padua, 1420. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £151,200
The medieval and Renaissance manuscript section at Christie’s Valuable Books and Manuscripts auction in London on July 9 is led by a sumptuous Paduan Missal, lavishly illuminated in 1420 for the Bishop of Padua, Pietro Marcello, from the library of Prime Minister William Gladstone. It is estimated at £200,000-300,000. It will feature alongside Books of Hours, humanist texts and two compelling examples of English medieval culture: a copy of Magna Carta and a 13th-century tally stick from the Royal Exchequer. The autographs open with a Nelson letter written three days before the Battle of Trafalgar and run to a 1962 love letter from John Lennon to Cynthia, written from the Beatles’ Star Club residency.
A pair of bird’s eye maple hall stands. UPDATE: THIS LOT WAS UNSOLD
An unusual pair of bird’s eye maple ormolu mounted mirrored hall stands with grey marble tops will feature at Marshs online only auction in Cork on July 5. The sale will offer a selection of Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian furniture, art and collectibles like Waterford Crystal, silver, clocks, rugs and books.
A large bronze sculpture of a lady signed Ross is estimated at €1,200-€1,500 and a Georgian four door breakfront bookcase has an estimate of €1,000-€1,200. Among other furniture lots are a Victorian rosewood davenport, a Regency satinwood and marquetry occasional table, a Georgian three tier waterfall bookshelf and a Georgian Canterbury.
Irish Georgian bureau bookcase. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,500 AT HAMMER
GEORGE II IRISH – LIMERICK – SILVER CREAM EWER BY JOSEPH JOHNS. UPDATE: THIS MADE 4,600 AT HAMMER
A ver rare c1745 Limerick silver cream ewer by Joseph Johns is among the lots at Hegarty’s online sale in Bandon on June 26. This intricate piece has a clear hallmark to left of the engraved cartouche. Joseph Johns was the most prolific of Limerick’s goldsmiths and became a freeman of Limerick in 1731. He lived and worked in Main Street, Englishtown (now Mary Street), opposite Fanning’s Castle. The ewer is estimated at €5,200-6,200.
