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These five books come up at lot 102 at the sale by Purcell Auctioneers of Birr of the libraries of Conor Cruise O’Brien, his wife Maire Mhac an tSaoi and her father Sean MacEntee on April 27. The estimate for the lot is 40-80. There will be 608 lots in total and the catalogue is online. The sale kicks off with a set of four volumes of The Annals of Ulster, followed by The LIfe and Work of Sigmund Freud.
Property from the life and eight decade spanning career of legendary actress Betty White comes up live and online at Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills on September 23, 24 and 25. On offer is a collection of over 1,500 lots featuring awards, scripts, wardrobe and memorabilia from iconic television shows and films, as well as furnishings, artwork, fine jewellery, household and personal items from her homes in Brentwood and Carmel, California. Irish fans of the actress who died just short of her 100th birthday last December 31 will have a chance to see the collection at the Museum of Style Icons at Newbridge, Co. Kildare from August 1 to September 11.
Highlights include White’s original director chair from The Golden Girls set; the first draft script, a production script used for the finale of the series signed by Betty White, Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty, a large number of production scripts from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, a goodbye plaque from the cast and crew of The Betty White Show and numerous awards and nomination certificates including Emmy award nomination certificates for The Golden Girls, Saturday Night Live and Hot in Cleveland.
UPDATE: THIS WAS A WHITE GLOVE AUCTION IN WHICH EVERY LOT SOLD. A director’s chair used by Betty White during the production of The Golden Girls sold for an incredible $76,800, seventy-six times its original estimate of $1,000.
Memories of a pre-digital age, a time when devices like the phone had just one function, will be stirred by a two day sale of vintage advertising and printed ephemera at Sheppards in Durrow onApril 12 and 13. The collection of over 600 lots from a world when less was thrown away before plastic became ubiquitous, on view from today in Durrow, is instructive too. Lot 186, for instance, dates to a time before the baby of recycling was thrown out with the bathwater of progress. Waste not want not is the stern instruction on a vintage drinks advertising showcard from the Irish soft drinks and bottling industry – an appeal for the return of empty bottles.
Nothing promotes the husbanding of resources better than scarcity and price, as we are all rapidly coming to know again now. In those not so distant days all resources were seen as precious. The practice of recycling as we understand it was widespread then even if recycling in that world most likely meant re-tracing a route taken on a bicycle to recover what had been inadvertently dropped. A bright enamel sign advertises an agent for McKechnie’s Cork, Dyers, Cleaners and Hat Renovators (who knew you could get your hat renovated?). Lot 378 comes with an estimate of €400-€600.In a world where wonder was fuelled by nature a poster for J. Marsh of Oxford advertised: “A Great Novelty!! (Which May Be Seen Alive!!)”. A wonderfully large pig – the largest pig ever seen – which has won numerous prizes was temporarily billeted at the Star Yard. Admission to view this creature was 2d, or 1 d for children and schools. The poster on card is estimated at €100-€150.
On a slightly similar theme lot 294 is three vintage plexiglass signs for Bacon Rolls, Teas and Coffee. This was the world before the heart stopping jumbo breakfast roll had been invented. More than a century later it will come as news to many of us, courtesy of lot 124 a circa 1900 poster for Morrogh’s Tweeds, Douglas Mills, Cork, that this was the first tweed mill to make Irish Volunteers uniforms. In the days before so many businesses were swallowed up by mergers and takeovers breweries and distilleries were numerous throughout Ireland. There are advertising mirrors for many forgotten Irish enterprises. One of the more expensively estimated lots is an advertising mirror for the Phoenix Brewery special porter and O’Connells Dublin Ale. Enclosed in a mahogany bar back it is estimated at €2,500-€3,500. Lot 84 is a set of five antique pewter measures by Austin and Co. Cork (€200-€300). Sheppards sale with all its memories of the way we were is divided into three sessions and the catalogue is online.
This silver soup tureen and cover, made more than two centuries ago by Richard Sawyer, comes up at Sotheby’s sale of European furniture, silver and ceramics in New York from April 7-12. It is estimated at $8,000-12,000. Weighing 169 ozs the tureen is engraved with a key pattern collar between bold dolphin handles. The lower body is chased with vertical stiff leaves and engraved with talbot’s head crest. Other Irish silver lots in the sale include a two handled cup by Ambrose Boxwell, Dublin 1779 ($1,500-2,500) and a pair of large sauce boats by William Hughes c1775 ($1,500-2,500). UPDATE: The two handled cup made $1,008, the sauceboats made $2,772.
Georgian, William IV, Regency and Edwardian furniture will come up at Woodwards online sale in Cork on April 2. Highlights in this sale of more than 300 lots include a Regency inlaid yew fitted work table (€1,500-€2,500), a George II walnut kneehole desk €1,000-€1,500) and a pair of Coalbrookdale garden benches (€1,500-€2,000). Estimates are more reasonable than would have been the case a couple of decades ago, underlining once again how vintage furniture is undervalued right now. Here are some examples: A George II walnut card table (€700-€1,000); Edwardian cellarette (€400-€600); William IV rosewood teapoy (€600-€1,000); three pillar d-end dining table (€500-€800); Regency gilt window seat (€400-€600); Georgian walnut bureau €400-€600); Georgian library armchair (500-€800); Edwardian bonheur du jour (€300-€400) and a Victorian walnut drop leaf table (€400-€600).
This Victorian walnut clock comes up as lot 176 at Aidan Foley’s three day antique and home interiors auction in Sixmilebridge, Co. Clare on April 3, 4 and 5. It is estimated at 200-300. With a total of 1,866 lots the selection on offer is extensive. The sale is built around contents from three properties in Kenmare. There is antique furniture, Irish and European art, silver and collectibles. The catalogue is online and viewing at Sixmilebridge gets underway today.
An 1848 letter on Irish Independence written from prison in Dublin by John Mitchel to Thomas Carlyle comes up at Sotheby’s in London on April 13. John Mitchel was the editor of the United Irishman, which called for Irish independence in the bitter aftermath of the Great Hunger. Carlyle had met him on a visit to Ireland in September 1846, and Mitchel was deeply influenced by Carlyle’s “great man” theory of history. In May 1848 Mitchel was tried for seditious libel and sentenced to 14 years transportation. He was taken first to Ireland Island, Bermuda, to work on the construction of the British naval dockyard, then to Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania), from where he escaped in 1853. He spent much of the rest of his life in America, editing radical Irish Nationalist newspapers, but returned to Ireland to stand for election to Westminster in 1875. He won the election but was disqualified from sitting since he was a convicted felon. A second election was likewise decreed null. The estimate for the letter, in which he bids Carlyle farewell and sends his regards to Mrs. Carlyle, is 2,000-3,000 GBP.
The sale includes an 1848 letter from Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington to General Sir Edward Blakeney, Commander in Chief of the British Army in Ireland, on the possibility of a Chartist rebellion. Also on offer is a letter from William Huskisson, Minister for War, on the French Invasion of Ireland, 1798.
THIS Edwardian corner cabinet comes up at Hegarty’s fine interiors sale in Bandon on March 29 with an estimate of just 200-300. The auction offers a selection of 270 lots of antique furniture, art, silver, jewellery and rugs. The catalogue is online.
This rare Parnell commemorative fender with central amorial cartouche depicting Parnell and Erin go Brach inscribed beneath, framed by scrolling shamrocks and flanked by Irish harps comes as lot 219 at Sheppards sale of Irish vernacular objects on March 29. It is estimated at 300-500.
The sale features a medieval carved wood Mether or communal drinking vessel and a 19th century penny farthing bicycle, each estimated at €4,000 – €6,000. The private collection of ceramics, metalwork and furniture assembled over three generations ia on view in Durrow. There is everything from a 18th century Kildare rush light, a Gibson hedge chair and a 19th century model shop front to an Irish elk skull and antlers. The catalogue for this auction of 403 lots is online.
A Regency cheval mirror with satinwood crossbanding is among the lots of interest at Matthews sale of the entire contents of Rath House in Dundalk online from Kells, Co. Meath on March 20. The sale of 1,117 lots includes antique furniture, paintings, silver and collectibles. There are tables, sets of chairs, chests of drawers, bookcases, Oriental porcelain, Waterford Crystal, Victorian landscapes and portraits and all sorts of collectibles among a wide variety of lots. Viewing is now underway and the auction will be online.
The sale is a prelude to a number of auctions next week and the week after. Purcell Auctioneers in Birr will offer a 1908 limited edition Collected Works of W.B. Yeats (update – hammer 2,400) in verse and prose as a highlight of their sale of Irish and world interest books on March 23. A very rare Treatise on the Art of War by Roger, Earl of Orrery from 1677 comes up too (update – this made 1,250 at hammer). Works by Richard Brydges Beechey, Roderic O’Conor and William Orpen’s portrait of James Hugh Smith-Barry will highlight Fonsie Mealy’s sale of Irish and International Art on March 23. There are 236 lots on offer. A 48 hour timed online auction of jewellery by O’Reilly’s of Francis St. in Dublin runs from March 23-25.
