An AA Crosshaven road sign at Aidan Foley’s sale (€100-€200). UPDATE: THIS MADE 700 AT HAMMER
From antique wooden butter churns,Tilley lamps and antique weights to vintage tools, old road signs, petrol pump tops and tractor seats the Aidan Foley online sale of the John Smith Collection at noon on August 30 will be a memory jogging exercise for many. The auction, in conjunction with Niall Mullen antiques, features 672 lots of hardware and collectible kit. There is a vintage Ford tractor (€4,000-€6,000) and some cast iron ploughs (€200-€400) along with a fully restored horse trap, some cartwheels and a selection of milk churns.
A mahogany table in the Irish 18th century manner at Adams (€3,000-€5,000). UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,800 AT HAMMER
Silver, antique furniture, jewellery, artworks, porcelain, rugs, chandeliers, mirrors, lamps and even an elmwood shovel feature at the James Adam At Home sale Dublin on September 4. The selection from 518 lots is wide ranging and appetising. If your mind is turning towards autumn home renovations and style changes, or if you are seeking singular inspiration, then this sale is an ideal place to start.The most expensively estimated lot, at €7,000-€8,000 is a sapphire torque necklace. Furniture, like a 19th century tilt top circular mahogany tea table €200-€300) or a lady’s rosewood writing desk (€300-€500), offers good value. There is Oriental porcelain, Meissen, Dresden, Worcester and Sevres pieces and a Satsuma tea set and silver wine jugs in Italian contemporary or George IV London 1788 style. The catalogue is online.
18th century Beauvais Tapestry The Emperor’s Voyage
Some contents of the legendary Four Seasons George V Hotel in Paris will be auctioned by Artcurial on September 7 and 8 next. It is part of an ongoing drive to embellish the interiors of this iconic palace. More than 800 lots of art, furniture and objects are to be sold including items from the Imperial and Royal suites and Le Cinq, the three star restaurant. One of the most important lots is this tapestry depicting the Chinese Emperor Kangxi. Lot 733 is estimated at €40,000-€60,000. The majority of the lots on offer, including headboards, chairs, lamps, curtains, porcelain and tables are estimated at under €1,000.
This blue and white tureen and cover in the Chinese taste is lot 72 at Adams timed online warehouse clearance sale and is estimated at €50-€80. There is a wide selection of lots at affordable estimates on offer and the catalogue is online. The sale begins to close at 11 am on August 24. UPDATE: THIS MADE 110 AT HAMMER
A magnificent set of 10 chairs, described by Christie’s as the apogee of Kentian design and the ultimate flowering of the Palladian aesthetic, will come to auction in New York on October 20. They are by no means the most expensive lot from the Ann and Gordon Getty Collection to be sold over four evening and day auctions in New York from October 20 but there is an Irish connection. The c1754-56 chairs attributed to Benjamin Goodison are thought to be after a design by the architect designer William Kent. The delicately pierced backs and Vitruvian scroll aprons refine the Palladian style promoted by the foremost classical furniture designer of the day.
It was his friendship with Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington and 4th Earl of Cork (1694-1753) that promoted Kent as a painter, architect and designer. Known as the architect earl Boyle is credited with bringing Palladian architecture to Ireland and Britain. Major projects include Burlington House, Piccadilly, London (now home to the Royal Academy), Westminster School, Chiswick House and Northwick Park. Boyle’s professional skill as an architect was extraordinary as an Anglo-Irish aristocrat. Andrea Palladio’s Four Books of Architecture accompanied him on a tour of the Veneto in 1719. Back in London he employed the Scottish architect Colen Campbell for Burlington House and William Kent was assigned the interiors. The courtyard prominently sited in Piccadilly was the first major executed statement of Neo-Palladianism. Thanks to the Earl of Cork Palladian architecture with its Roman and Greek influences had arrived in this part of the world. Meantime Kent’s Palladian residences with their fully designed interiors became a template for his contemporaries and subsequent generations. The chairs are estimated at €490,000-€780,000.
The Ann and Gordon Getty Collection sale will offer almost 1,500 lots from their San Francisco residence, considered one of the finest interiors in the world. There are decorative and fine art masterpieces of unrivalled quality and provenance. The New York sales will be complemented by six online auctions of textiles, handbags and jewellery between October 10-25.Leading lots include American painting, English and European furniture and Asian works of art. There are Impressionist pictures by Claude Monet and Edgar Degas and Old Master paintings and drawings by Bernardo Bellotto and Jean-Antoine Watteau.Beginning in September highlights will be exhibited in Shanghai, London, Los Angeles, Paris and New York. Twelve jewels by JAR from the estate of Ann Getty (who died in 2020) made $5.9 million at a sale of Magnificent Jewels by Christie’s in New York in June.Proceeds will benefit the couples foundation for the arts, which is dedicated to supporting arts and science organisations. Beneficiaries will include the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Symphony, University of San Francisco, Berkeley Geochronology Centre and the Leakey Foundation.
This Art Deco diamond and ruby target cluster ring is lot 193 at a timed auction by O’Reilly’s of Francis St., Dublin. It is centred by an old cut diamond of 0.45 carats and estimated at €2,000-€2,500. The sale of fine jewellery, watches and silver gets underway on Wednesday August 24 and runs until next Friday. There will be an online auction of jewellery and collectibles by John Weldon of Temple Bar, Dublin next August 23.
The Path to Freedom by Michael Collins published by The Talbot Press comes up at R.J. Keighery’s sale in Waterford next Monday, the 100th anniversary of the murder of Collins at Beal na Blath in Co. Cork on August 22, 1921. The 1922 book has chapters including “Advance and Use of our Liberties”, “Alternative to the Treaty”, “The Proof of Success”, “Four Historic Years”, “Collapse of the Terror”, “Partition Act’s Failure”, “Why Britain Sought Irish Peace” and “Freedom within Grasp”. Lot 306 is estimated at €80-€120. More than 600 lots of furniture, Irish art, chandeliers, jewellery, silver and collectibles will come under the hammer. The catalogue is online.
This walnut marquetry and gilt mounted credenza is one of the top furniture lots at the James Adam At Home sale in Dublin on September 4. This will be the opening auction of the post summer period at Adams. The 19th century piece with bowed outline has a shaped top with moulded edge, glazed rounded corners and a plinth base. It is estimated at €3,000-€5,000. A pair of French boulle marble topped side cabinets and a side table in the Irish 18th century style carry similar estimates. The most expensively estimated lot in the auction is a sapphire torque necklace. The catalogue is online.
This sapphire torque necklace is estimated at €7,000-€8,000.
Indian Mutiny ‘Siege of Lucknow’ V.C. awarded to Mr. Thomas Henry Kavanagh, Bengal Uncovenanted Civil Service.UPDATE: THIS MADE £930,000 – A WORLD RECORD PRICE FOR A V.C.
The first civilian Victoria Cross of five to be awarded presented to Thomas Henry Kavanagh by Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle – one of only two not in a museum – comes up at Noonan’s in Mayfair on September 14 with an estimate of £300,000-400,000. The famous Indian Mutiny ‘Siege of Lucknow’ Victoria Cross was awarded to Thomas Henry Kavanagh, who was born on July 15, 1821 in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath.
He was employed as a clerk in the Lucknow Office prior to the Siege. In November 1857, he volunteered to leave the safety of the Residency disguised as a Sepoy (an Indian soldier serving under British or other European orders), accompanied by a Brahmin scout. The pair jostled past armed rebels through the narrow Lucknow streets and talked their way past sentries in the moonlight, crossed deep rivers, tramped through swamps and narrowly avoided capture after startling a farmer who raised the alarm. On finally reaching a British cavalry outpost Kavanagh delivered Sir James Outram’s vital despatch to Sir Colin Campbell and ably guided his column to the relief of the Residency garrison.
Oliver Pepys, Auctioneer and Medal Specialist (Associate Director) Noonans explained: “Kavanagh was decorated with the highest honour for undertaking an epic quest to escape the surrounded Residency at night, crossing enemy lines, making contact with the camp of the Commander-in-Chief, and then using his local knowledge to guide the relieving force through the city to the beleaguered garrison by the safest route.”
“The first of just five civilians to have been awarded the V.C., he was further rewarded with promotion to the gazetted post of Assistant Commissioner of Oude and was presented with his Victoria Cross by Queen Victoria in a special ceremony at Windsor Castle. A tour of England and Ireland further enhanced his celebrity while the publication in 1860 of his account of the Siege, ‘How I won the Victoria Cross’ and Orlando Norrie’s painting of him donning his Indian disguise – one of the truly iconic images of the Defence of Lucknow – ensured that he became a Victorian legend, indeed few histories of the conflict are without an image of ‘Lucknow Kavanagh’.”
A first edition copy of his book is included with the lot.
“ISLANDS IN THE STREAM” GOLD DIGITAL SALES AWARD COMMEMORATION ($500 – $700)
Hold ’em or fold ’em a collection of the GRAMMY® award-winning Country and Pop music icon Kenny Rogers will come up at Julien’s Auctions in Hollywood from October 21-23. The three day live and online sale of more than 1,200 lots from the estate of the renowned actor, philanthropist, businessman and photographer will feature memorabilia, awards, jewellery, wardrobe and personal items from “The Gambler’s” six-decade career. He was one of the best selling artists of all time with 120 million records sold worldwide.
“The Gambler” became Rogers’ signature story song, persona and one of his five consecutive hit singles to go to No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Music chart. It was a multiple-genre smash hit making the Top 10 across the pop and easy listening charts which earned him his second GRAMMY® Award. A portion of the proceeds of the auction will benefit Music Health Alliance.
