The Bonnettstown Hall Irish side table. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
An Irish 18th century five pillar dining table (€50,000-€80,000) is the top lot at three days of sales at Sheppards from Tuesday December 6. The fascinating selection on offer includes fine wines headed by six bottles of Premier Cru Classe Pessac-Leognan, Chateau Haut Brion, 2009 (€5,500-€6,500) along with antique furniture, jewellery, art including a portrait of a lady in a green dress by Vanessa Bell, vintage designer dresses and handbags and collectibles including a Charles X ormolu and bronze cathedral clock by Schuller, Paris with painted porcelain plaque after Raphael Sanzio.
There are some fine 18th and 19th century chimney pieces, Donegal and Persian rugs, an Irish 18th century side table (€8,000-€12,000), baronial armchairs and an 18th century Chinese lacquered cabinet (€3,000-€5,000) among more than 1,400 lots. Viewing for a sale entitled Bonnettstown Hall, Kilkenny and other important clients is underway in Durrow and the catalogue is online.
VANESSA BELL (1879 – 1961) – Portrait of a lady in a green dress. (1959). UPDATE: THIS MADE 6,500 AT HAMMER
Adare Manor replica of the Shrine of St. Manchan. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
With an original copy of the Irish Constitution, a first edition of Ulysses in the centenary year of its publication, the pocket seal of Michael Collins engraved with his initials, facsimiles of The Book of Kells and the Lindisfarne Gospels, a collection of Beatles signatures, an album signed by Jimi Hendrix and Cork’s first All-Ireland Football gold medal from 1894 there is little not to like about Fonsie Mealy’s Christmas Rare Books and Collectors sale.
Michael Collins’ pocket seal with the initials M.C. in reverse. UPDATE: THIS MADE €4,800 AT HAMMER
“Here be Treasure” is what they used to write on the old pirates maps and “X marks the Spot”. In this auction there is a respectable quota of 1,156 x’s. That is the number of lots due to come under the hammer over two days of sales ON December 6 and 7 at the Talbot Hotel in Dublin. With estimates of €20-€30 euro (for a match programme and scarf from Ireland’s first win over New Zealand in Dublin in 2018) to €140,000-€180,000 (for the Irish Constitution) there is material in this sale to cater for many interests across all price ranges. A life sized replica of the shrine of St. Manchan in wood, plaster of Paris and gilding, commissioned by Sir William Wilde (Oscar’s dad) and presented to the 3rd Earl of Dunraven, conveys the magnificence of one of the finest examples of 12th century metalwork to have survived in Ireland at Boher in Co. Offaly. The replica, displayed at Adare Manor for over a century and included in the contents sale there in 1982, is estimated at €20,000-€30,000.
Among the highlights is a collection of gold and silver medals awarded to John Enright of Limerick including the World Fly Fishing Tournament at Wimbledon in 1896, an archive of documents relating to Hugh Kennedy (1879-1936), first Attorney General and Chief Justice of the Irish Free State, An Argument on behalf of the Catholics of Ireland, 1791 signed by Wolfe Tone and the controversial Cork All-Ireland football gold medal of 1894 featured on these pages last Saturday. The Michael Collins memorabilia includes a copy of the London accounts for the Treaty negotiations, his shillelagh and his pocket seal. There is an intriguing note with an almost certain intelligence connection seeking “any particulars”.
A signed album cover for Axis: Bold as Love by Jimi Hendrix. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
There will be competition for a collection of album covers with signatures by John Lennon, Yoko Ono, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Paul and Linda McCartney as well as the album Axis: Bold as Love signed by Jimi Hendrix (who would have been 80 this week).A folio of ten large watercolour drawings of Ireland’s geological landscape by George Victor du Noyer (€4,000-€5,000) is another rarity. There is no shortage of signed first editions of books of poetry, literature and popular fiction, medals, coins, banknotes, historic match programmes, cinema posters, soldiers letters and even a boxing glove signed by Joe Frazier and George Foreman. The catalogue is online.
CLAUDE LALANNE (1925-2019) – UNIQUE MIRROR SOLD FOR €978,000?
This mirror, a unique piece by Claude Lalanne, sold for €978,000 at Christie’s design sale in Paris yesterday. The 140 lot sale brought together some of the greatest names in 20th Century French design: from Pierre Chareau, Jean Royère and Charlotte Perriand to Philippe Starck, Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne, Maria Pergay, Mathieu Matégot and Line Vautrin. The auction brought in €5.6 million over a top estimate of €4.8 million. It was 81% sold by lot with 55% making more than the high estimate.
Christie’s will offer the collection of Marie Lalanne, daughter of Francois-Xavier and Claude Lalanne, in New York on December 7. The largest collection of Lalanne ever to be sold in the US will offer more than 150 lots, including sculpture, furniture, jewellery, handbags and dinner services. Among the leading lots is Gorilla Console by Francois-Xavier Lalanne ($1-$1.5 million) which carries the signature humour of the artist: the title is a play on the notion that gorillas are inconsolable by the fact that they will never be fully human. Here, the gorilla has chosen to console himself through becoming a console table.
UPDATE: THE NEW YORK SALE MADE $77,043,008. It was 100% sold, 319% above low estimate, with 88% of lots selling above the high estimate.
FRANÇOIS-XAVIER LALANNE (1927-2008) – Gorille Consolé. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $3,420,000
This 18th century marble chimneypiece comes up as lot 12 at Sheppards three day sale in Durrow from December 6-8. There is an inverted moulded edge mantle above a swag draped table and Sienna fluted inlaid panels and pillars. The estimate is €12,000-18,000. Around 1,450 lots will come under the hammer at the sale entitled Bonnettstown Hall, Kilkenny and other important clients. The catalogue is online and there will be viewing in Durrow from December 3. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
An extremely scarce medal from Cork’s first Football All-Ireland in 1894 comes up at Fonsie Mealy’s rare books and collectibles sale in Dublin on December 6 and 7. The seventh All-Ireland final was mired in controversy. The first game was a draw, there was a re-match where, with seven minutes remaining and Cork leading Dublin by 1-02 to 0-5, several Dublin players were attacked by Cork supporters. Dublin refused to play on and was awarded the championship by the GAA Central Council. Cork County Board never accepted this finding.
Four months later a ceremony was held to award gold medals to the victorious Cork players from Nil Desperandum FC which had been founded mostly as a rugby club and where members started playing Gaelic Football in 1888. The 9 carat gold medal bears the Cork Coat of Arms and the Provincial Coats of Arms and is inscribed: GAA All-Ireland Football Championship, won by Nils, 1894″. It is estimated at €7,000-€9,000. The medal is by direct family descent from Jack O’Sullivan of Nil Desperandum. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
“The Finest Keeping Butter in the World” at Marshs. UPDATE: THIS MADE 750 AT HAMMER
A good selection of great value and attractive antique furniture and collectibles will feature at two Cork city sales on December 3. Local interest will be stirred by a painting of Mahon Golf Club by Josef Keys at Woodwards (€400-€500) and a double washstand from the State Bedroom of the White Star liner RMS Celtic which ran aground off Roches Point in December 1928 at Marshs (€4,000-€6,000).
Memories of the storied industrial past of the city will be awakened by not just any old tin but one labelled grandly “The Finest Keeping Butter in the World”. The advice on the 28 lb tin packed by M. Barrett, Cork is to store in a cool place. Marshs estimate it at just €200-€400. Among a selection of cased longcase clocks, wall and mantel clocks at Marshs are two Cork clocks, one by William Ross, the other by a maker called Mansfield. Each is estimated at €2,000-€3,000. A large bronze bust of Napoleon on a pedestal (€1,500-€2,500) and a selection of silver and plated cutlery from the Ursuline Convent in Blackrock will create interest too.
Not so much interest perhaps in the antique furniture, which has not been doing well for what seems to me to be inexplicable reasons. Marshs will offer a highly collectible pair of large mahogany wine coolers and an early Georgian mahogany corner cabinet each estimated at €1,500-€2,000. The estimates for these might have been higher two decades ago. There is a mere €400-€500 on an arbutus wood Killarney work table and a Queen Anne armchair comes with an estimate of just €250-€300.
George II kneehole desk at Woodwards. UPDATE: THIS MADE 300 AT HAMMER
At Woodwards a pair of cast iron garden benches is estimated at €1,600-€2,000 and a large Persian Mashad rug is estimated at €500-€600. Among the antique furniture in the estimate range of €400-€500 is a Georgian mahogany breakfast table, a George II kneehole desk, a pair of inlaid console tables, an Edwardian inlaid sofa table and an eight piece Chippendale style drawing room suite. The estimates are even less on a William IV inlaid walnut sewing table, a William IV oblong hall table, a Georgian walnut card table and a large kneehold desk, all reckoned to make around €300-€400. A bachelors chest, a Victorian oval centre table and an Edwardian envelope card table are all estimated at just €200-€300.
PAIR OF 18TH CENTURY GILT CONSOLE TABLES. UPDATE: THESE WERE UNSOLD
A pair of 18th century gilt console tables c1780 with rouge royale shaped marble tops will come up as lot 901 at Sheppards three day sale on December 6, 7 and 8. They are estimated at €8,000-€12,000. Viewing for the sale entitled Bonnettstown Hall and other important clients will get underway in Durrow on December 3. The catalogue is online from today.
GILLINGTONS MAHOGANY SERVER. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
This c1820 Irish serving table made by Gillingtons in Dublin comes up at a sale by Reillys Antiques, Prosperous, Co. Kildare on November 26. It is estimated at €4,200-4,500. Contents from Ballyraggett House, Sallins will come under the hammer. There will be viewing at Ballyraggett House today and tomorrow and the sale takes place at Reilly’s and online with 425 lots in total.
RITA HAYWORTH Film Poster, “L”Affaire de Trinidad” UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 80 AT HAMMER
This Rita Hayworth film post, L’Affaire de Trinidad”, comes up as lot 215 at Dolan’s timed online November auction with an estimate of 150-220. It is in good condition, unframed with a single fold mark. The sale offers work by 20th century and contemporary artists including Charles Lamb, Mark O’Neill, Flora Mitchell, Arthur Maderson, Markey Robinson (Bronze), Charles Harper, Cecil Maguire, Martin Mooney, Frank Egginton, Arthur Armstrong, Muriel Brandt, Ernest Hayes, Arthur Twells and Modern British artists Helen Tabor and Roger Dellar. There is a selection of Very Rare Midleton Whiskeys which Dolan’s say are prized by collectors across the world, from Ireland to Sydney.
The selection includes antique furniture, rugs, books, silver and collectibles with 344 lots in total. There is art by Susan Cronin, Henry Morgan, John Morris, Norman Teeling, John C Brobbel, Rose Stapleton, Roy Lyndsay, Robert Egginton, Olive Bodeker, Michael Morris, Thelma Mansfield, Mat Grogan, Douglas Hutton and Manus Walsh. The auction runs until November 28.
ANTIQUE ISFAHAN WOOL CARPET, CENTRAL IRAN, CA 1920. UPDATE: THIS MADE 10,000 AT HAMMER
This fine wool carpet from central Iran, circa 1920, is among the top lots at the James Adam sale of the Collection of Mahmut Balkir in Dublin on November 23. The central field is woven with a large flowerhead medallion in blue, red, brown, and navy tones, against a cream ground. It is contained within a broad red ground border decorated with floral vignettes and flowerheads, with guard stripes. The estimate for lot 168 is €15,000-20,000. A third generation rug dealer Mahmut Balkir runs The Oriental Rug Company on Francis St. in Dublin.
