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 UPDATE: THIS LOT WAS WITHDRAWN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.
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.
Edwardian roll top desk. UPDATE: THIS MADE 180 AT HAMMER
A hot Georgian wine cooler or a cool Edwardian desk? The choice is yours at Woodwards online summer auction in Cork on June 28. Well positioned each of these stylish antique pieces can add grace to most homes. Estimated respectively at €600-€800 and €400-€600 they are not particularly expensive and would have cost more 20 years ago.
Such is the sad state of the market for antique furniture. The happy news (if that is not a contradiction in terms right now) is that furniture like this does offer spectacular value. The sale at Woodwards is rich in such pieces like a Regency crossbanded tea table (€400-€600), a d-end dining table (€200-€400), a parquetry inlaid hall table (€200-€400), a Victorian walnut davenport (€300-€500), a William IV card table (€250-€400) and a Regency Pembroke table (€300-€600). Among other offerings are a large Persian rug (€500-€800), a five piece cast iron patio suite (€800-€1,200), a gilt console mirror with marble table top (€800-€1,200) and art including Vanity Fair Spy prints and Victorian silhouettes and collectibles.
Georgian wine cooler UPDATE: THIS MADE 380 AT HAMMER
One of a pair of stone sculptures of Kinsale hounds UPDATE: THESE WERE UNSOLD
A monumental pair of stone sculptures of Kinsale hounds might be a tad over the top for your average apartment entrance but with a mansion, a castle or even a large imposing garden it is another story entirely. The Great Danes, in the style of the favourite hunting hound of the 25th Lord Kingsale, John de Courcy (1717-1776) are among a number of remarkable lots at Sheppards annual Glantelwe Gardens sale in Durrow on June 24.
A keen deer hunter Lord Kingsale lived at Old Head Castle and imported a pair of hunting dogs to help him deal with wolves. It is claimed the Kinsale hounds killed the last wolf in Ireland.
A pair of classical style terracotta campana urns UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
Sheppards auction, on view from today at Glantelwe Gardens along the banks of the River Erkina in Co. Laois, offers more than 600 lots of statuary, sculpture and architectural pieces. Here you will find everything from a monumental Italian bronze fountain with four classically draped female figures (€15,000-€25,000) to a bronze patinated cannon (€3,000-€5,000), a contemporary bronze sculpture of boxing hares (€2,500-€3,500), a cast iron frog ornament (€50-€80) and a 19th century horse drawn carriage formerly owned by actress Maureen O’Hara.
With classical and contemporary statues, moulded stone urns, cast and wrought iron furniture, architectural salvage sourced from an Irish demesne, antique follies and ornamental ironwork this sale should be a mecca for collectors, gardeners and designers in search of a show stopping centrepiece or a discreet focal point.
A large green patinated bronze sculpture of Mercury, a pair of 19th century arched entrance gates, a set of six cast iron standard urns, a pair of Italianate stone dogs on plinths, neo-classical moulded urns, a pair of large Medici lions in composite stone, a 19th century cast iron bistro set and even a monumental bronze sculpture of a jockey on horseback all have the capacity to inspire.
The Kinsale hounds will set you back an estimated €8,000-€12,000.
A 19th century horse drawn carriage owned by Maureen O’Hara. UPDATE: THIS LOT WAS WITHDRAWN
A rare early Irish £50 note dated September 10, 1928 and featuring Lady Lavery could make up to £15,000 (€17,600) at Noonans in Mayfair on June 25. That was the month when legal tender notes, pegged in value to the pound sterling, came into circulation. It followed a determination by the then Irish Free State in the mid 1920’s to design its own coins and banknotes. Until the advent of the euro three series of legal tender notes were issued by Ireland. The Irish Free State £50 note is considerably rarer than the £100 note. This particular one was described by Andrew Pattison of Noonan’s as: “one of the finest-known examples of this first date for the iconic Lady Lavery series”. A proof £100 note from 1978-79 featuring a vignette of 16th century pirate Grace O’Malley (Granuaile) is estimated at £2,000-£2,600 (€2,350-€3,052).
