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SHEPPARDS SALE AT CAPARD HOUSE, CO. LAOIS

Friday, September 11th, 2015

With more than 1,100 lots the sale of the John Farrington Collection by Sheppards on September 22 and 23 offers an across the board selection of furniture, art, garden furniture, jewellery and the range associated with the big house. This is a two day on the premises house auction at Capard House, Rosenallis, Co. Laois. To avoid heavy traffic associated with Ireland’s National Ploughing Championships the advice for motorway drivers is to exit the M7 at Junction 18. Here is a small selection:

One of a pair of large powder blue Chinese vases, Qing Period (30,000-40,000).

George III mahogany, satinwood and marquetry bureau (1,500-2,500).

Large ebony and gilt wood console table (3,000-5,000).

An Irish George III three pillar dining table (40,000-60,000).

A monumental George III giltwood mirror (15,000-25,000).

Tags: Capard House, Sheppards
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A PIONEER OF CONTEMPORARY CERAMICS IN IRELAND

Saturday, September 5th, 2015

No less than ten pieces by John ffrench (1928-2010) – the great pioneer of contemporary ceramics in Ireland – come up at a house auction at Lifford, Co. Donegal tomorrow. The ten pieces to be sold are from the collection of Albert and Eva Johnson, The Diamond, Lifford, Co. Donegal. They are to be included in a house sale by Matthews of over 500 lots. About 25 pieces of Irish ceramic as well as a good selection of antique furniture, art and collectibles including a pair of Irish silver Celtic Revival bowls will come under the hammer.

John ffrench studied in Italy for four years and returned to set up the Ring Studio in Kilkenny with Peter Brennan in 1956. He began to create sculptural, experimental pots inspired by the Cubism of Picasso and Braque, unlike any previously seen in this country. In the 1950’s mass produced and imported work was standard in Ireland. The country had virtually no craft pottery tradition. ffrench founded the Arklow Studio Pottery, was closely involved with Kilkenny studios and exhibited at the Waddington Gallery in Dublin. His work is included in the permanent collection at the Crawford Gallery.

Four ceramic bowls by John ffrench (50-80 each).

John ffrench wall charger with blue bird motif (100-150).

John ffrench unique hand painted egg (40-70).

Tags: John ffrench, Matthews Auction Rooms
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SCOTT AND SHACKLETON POLAR BOOKS AT SOTHEBY’S

Tuesday, September 1st, 2015

The finest private collection of books relating to the polar explorers Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton will come up at Sotheby’s in London on September 30. The auction is 100 years on from Shackleton’s epic “Endurance” expedition, considered the final great voyage of the “heroic” age of Antarctic exploration. Pioneering publishers and writers, they produced some of the most outstanding and rare of all travel books, recounting their great feats of adventure, ill-fated voyages, daily lives and discoveries in the South Pole.

Highlights including the first book printed in Antarctica, Shackleton’s Antarctic handbook and a facsimile of the South Polar Times (the newspaper produced by Scott’s men in the Antarctic). The collection is from the library of Franklin Brooke-Hitching. He has assembled the most magnificent private collection of English language books charting the discovery of the world over 40 years.

The motor car in soft snow after the return of the ship. (Taken during the British Antarctic Expedition 1907-1909.

The Hut in Summertime

National Antarctic Expedition 1901-1904. Album

Inscription in George Murray’s Antarctic Manual (1901)

Tags: Ernest Shackleton, Scott of the Antarctic
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TITANIC LUNCH MENU AT ONLINE ARTEFACTS AUCTION

Monday, August 31st, 2015

The Titanic lunch menu photo credit: Lion Heart Autographs UPDATE: IT SOLD FOR US$88,000

Artefacts including a lunch menu dated April 14, 1912 recovered from Titanic’s infamous Lifeboat No. 1 are to be sold in an online auction on September 30. Lion Heart Autographs will offer three very rare pieces from the lifeboat. Lifeboat No. 1 was lowered from the Titanic with just five wealthy passengers and seven crew members, who quickly rowed away without trying to rescue anyone else. The three lots are an original Menu from the last luncheon served aboard the Titanic ($50,000-$70,000); one of only four known printed tickets from Titanic’s Turkish Baths weighing chair ($7,500-$10,000) and a letter and envelope written by Lifeboat No. 1 survivor Mabel Francatelli (1880-1967) on New York’s Plaza Hotel stationery six months after the disaster ($4,000-$6,000).

Francatelli was a First Class passenger who survived the sinking of the Titanic by boarding Lifeboat No.1 with her employer, fashion designer Lucy Duff-Gordon (1863-1935), her husband, wealthy Scottish nobleman Cosmo Duff-Gordon (1862-1931) and two other passengers, including Abraham Lincoln Salomon (1868-1959), the letter’s recipient. Cosmo Duff-Gordon who, with his wife, were the only passengers interrogated by the British Inquest into the ship’s loss, had been rumored to have bribed the seven crewmen to row away from the crippled Titanic, leaving more than 1500 to drown in the icy water. Francatelli reports:

“We do hope you have now quite recovered from the terrible experience. I am afraid our nerves are still bad, as we had such trouble & anxiety added to our already awful experience by the very unjust inquiry when we arrived in London”

The Rare Titanic Artifacts from Lifeboat No. 1 & Other Historic Autographs Auction will take place September 30, 2015 through www.invaluable.com and www.eBayliveauctions.com online bidding platforms with other bidding opportunities on www.auctionzip.com, France’s www.lefigaro.fr and China’s www.epailive.com. The auction will have no buyer’s premium. Never before has Titanic material of this caliber been offered exclusively on the internet. September 1, 2015 marks the 30-year anniversary of the discovery of the RMS Titanic at the bottom of the Atlantic ocean.

Tags: Lion Heart Autographs, Titanic
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AN ATTIC SALE AT SHEPPARDS IN DURROW

Monday, August 31st, 2015

A pair of French designed polished steel and leather standard lamps and a 19th century Italian faience miniature violin are among the highlights at Sheppards first ever attic sale in Durrow on September 1. The auction of more than 600 lots from the attics, stables and storerooms of important clients offers collectors at all levels a chance to acquire one of a kind treasures. Estimates are reasonable. The lamps are estimated at 300-500, the violin at 220-300. The catalogue is online.

A pair of French design standard lamps

A 19th century Italian miniature faience violin

Tags: Durrow, Sheppards
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RARE IRISH GOLD COIN AT LONDON AUCTION

Thursday, August 27th, 2015

The Ormonde Money gold pistole.

A rare Irish gold coin could make up to £100,000 at Dix Noonan Webb in London on September 15. The Ormonde money gold pistole – Ireland’s only gold coinage – dates from the Great Rebellion of the 17th century. Only 11 are known to have survived and nine of these are in museums and public collections. Issued by the Duke of Ormonde, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, they were used to pay the Royalist garrison in Dublin. The coins were minted using foreign currency, bullion, rings and chains. Ormonde was the representative of Charles I in Ireland.

This specimen is from the collection of Theo Bullmore, the British chartered accountant who rose to become managing partner in KPMG. It will be sold along with the rest of a collection of Irish coins of the Great Rebellion 1642-49 built up by Mr. Bullmore.

UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £78,000

Tags: Dix Noonan Webb, Ormonde Money gold pistole
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THE ABBA PIANO AT SOTHEBY’S IN SEPTEMBER

Thursday, August 27th, 2015

The Abba piano.

The “ABBA Piano”, the first major piece of ABBA material to be offered at auction, comes up at Sotheby’s in London on September 29. No other single instrument has featured more prominently in pop music since the 1970’s. From the opening refrain of ‘Mamma Mia’, to ‘Waterloo’, ‘Dancing Queen’ and ‘Money, Money, Money’, the sound of this piano has resonated throughout countless bedrooms, headphones and dancefloors across the world. The instrument on which ABBA recorded their best-loved songs is from the collection of Atlantis Grammofon (formerly known as Metronome Studios), where ABBA recorded their greatest hits. Estimated at £600,000-800,000, it is accompanied by a certificate of authentication signed by Benny Andersson in 2015.

“The Bolin Grand, one of a kind and a great source of inspiration while working in the recording studio during the ABBA sessions!” Benny Andersson said this year. It was originally built for American composer and jazz pianist Bill Evans (1929-1980) by the Swedish designer George Bolin (1912-1993). It was purchased by the Metronome Studios in Stockholm in 1967 and featured on virtually all ABBA recordings from 1973-77.

In 2000 John Lennon’s Steinway upright piano, on which he composed Imagine, sold for £1.67 million. The upright piano which featured in Rick’s Cafe Americain in the film Casablanca sold for $3.4 million last year.

UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

Tags: ABBA, Bolin Grand, sotheby's
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Dylan’s A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall at Sotheby’s

Tuesday, August 25th, 2015

The Dylan lyrics

In 1962, in a small room above the legendary Gaslight Folk Club in Greenwich Village, New York, the 21-year-old Bob Dylan, hunched at a typewriter, wrote what is widely considered one of the greatest songs in the history of rock music. Fifty-three years later, the original type-written manuscript for the revolutionary, A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall, has emerged for sale at Sotheby’s in London, where it is estimated to sell for £150,000-200,000.

Described by Rolling Stone magazine as “the greatest protest song by the greatest protest songwriter of his time”, it marks a key artistic breakthrough by the most influential songwriter alive today. The scratchings-out and revisions offer fresh insight into the creative process behind one of the world’s most loved songs.

The lyrics will be part of Sotheby’s “Rock & Pop” sale in London on September 29.

UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

Tags: Bob Dylan, Dylan's A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall, sotheby's
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A DUTCH DISPLAY CABINET AT WATERFORD SALE

Sunday, August 23rd, 2015

A 19th century Dutch two door display cabinet and a selection of Waterford Crystal chandeliers are among the1,200 lots on offer at R.J. Keighery’s City Auction Rooms in Waterford on August 24. The sale includes furniture, 150 lots of vintage Waterford Crystal, a collection of 1950’s toys, jewellery, paintings and rugs. The catalogue is online.

A Corgi 267 Batmobile (40-60).

A Dutch two door display cabinet (1,800-2,400)

Tags: DUTCH DISPLAY CABINET, R.J. KEIGHERY
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THE SIMPSONS AT SOTHEBY’S SAM SIMON SALE IN NEW YORK

Thursday, August 20th, 2015

Fine art and memorabilia from the personal collection of television legend Samuel “Sam” Simon (1955-2015) – co-creator of The Simpsons – will come up across a series of auctions at Sotheby’s in New York this autumn. Sam Simon’s passions extended beyond television to include a notable career as a boxing manager, as well as a lasting legacy as a champion of animal rights. To that end, full proceeds from the sale of his collection will benefit the multi-platform Sam Simon Charitable Giving Foundation, which supports both animal welfare programs and poverty alleviation and disaster relief organisations. He was showrunner on Taxi and a writer/producer/director on countless pop culture icons of the small screen.

Sam Simon’s creative eye manifested itself in his extensive art collection, which spans an impressive range of styles, genres and mediums. The strong figurative vein that runs throughout the group is evidenced in paintings such as Thomas Hart Benton’s T.P. and Jake, in which the artist communicates the emotional connection between a boy and his dog in beautiful detail ($1.5/2.5 million). That work held such personal significance to Simon that it is pictured in the logo for the Sam Simon Foundation.