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.
A rare Limerick silver marrow scoop comes up at Bonhams Home and Interiors sale in London on March 29-30. Made by Thomas Burke it is estimated at £800-£1,000. The sale features a number of items of Irish silver from the Peter Ticher collection which includes a pair of George II Irish cast silver candlesticks by Matthew Walker, Dublin, 1730–1731. Estimates range from £100-£4,000. Highlights include An 18th century Irish silver cream jug with no maker’s mark, only crowned harp and Hibernia, circa 1750 (£500-£600); a collection of Irish silver bright-engraved flatware, varying makers (£400-£600) and eleven Irish provincial silver teaspoons by Carden Terry & Jane Williams, Cork, stamped with maker’s mark CT over IW, and stamped Sterling, circa 1810 (£300-£400).
THE harp that once is commemorated in this bog oak piece which comes up as lot 63 at Sheppards Irish Vernacular sale on March 29. Unrivalled symbols of Ireland the harp and the shamrock are deeply associated with celebrations marking St. Patrick’s Day. The ballad by Thomas Moore (1779-1852) symbolises an Ireland that was still under British domination and begins:
The harp that once through Tara’s halls
The soul of music shed
Now hangs as mute on Tara’s walls
As if the soul were fled
A 1930 version sung by Count John McCormack is available on You Tube. Sheppards sale offers 403 lots. The catalogue is online and the bog oak harp is estimated at 200-300. Happy St. Patrick’s Day.
Still winning after all these years the brothers Edward (1827?-1887) and John Burke (1829-1892) have done it again. A framed E and J Burke Dublin Chicago and New York Baseball players advertisement made a hammer price of 19,000 as Victor Mee’s three day sale of HCR chemists memorabilia, pub memorabilia and decorative advertising began to draw to a conclusion this evening. It was lot number 1447 in the sale. In March 2020 a similar advertisement made 17,500 at Sheppards.
The brothers were Irish distillers, brewers, bottlers and importers, cousins of Benjamin Lee Guinness and grandsons of the first Arthur Guinness. The company they founded in 1847 was in business in New York City from 1874 to 1953. A six story brick warehouse at 616 W 46th St. served as headquarters and storage from 1913-1922.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for March 3, 2020)
You never know what you might come across at an auction of house contents. Which is why they are brimful of interest. This copper deep sea divers helmet with the insignia of the US Navy Mark V full size is one of the more unusual collectibles at Matthews sale of contents of Rath House, Dundalk on March 20. There are 1,117 lots including antiques, art, silver and collectibles. The helmet is lot 47 and is estimated at just 120-180.
The clearance sale of contents from the chain of Hayes Conyngham Robinson chemist shops at Victor Mee next week is just the tonic for collectors with an interest in Ireland’s retail history. An entire era of shop fittings went into long term storage when the business was taken over by Boots in 1998. Historic items like beautiful old cash registers and the kind of medicine bottles your grandmother would have been familiar with will come under the hammer at a three day live and online sale from Belturbet, Co. Cavan, which will include pub and advertising memorabilia, starting on Monday.
Founded in 1897 HCR operated for over 100 years, ending up with 30 locations across Ireland. All proceeds from the HCR lots are to be donated to Bernardo’s. Chemist jars with black and gold labels and early 20th century amber glass chemist bottles are redolent of an era that many older readers will fondly remember, a time when no visit by a child with an adult to a chemist shop would be complete without a twisted orange coloured barley sugar stick. The ingenuity of collectors is legendary and the thought of new life and new uses for venerable items like an early 20th century mahogany chemist counter back is heartening. This one, complete with centre glazed door and gilded PRESCRIPTIONS pediment, is estimated at €1,500-€2,500. There is an estimate of €1,000-€2,000 on a mahogany chemist counter and a shop counter with a bank of 50 drawers is estimated at €1,500-€3,000.
There are various collections of chemists poison bottles, amber bottles and glass jars at estimates of from €50 to €250. There are wall cabinets, wooden advertising boxes, floor cabinets with adjustable shelving, shop display cabinets and even an animatronic chemists advertising machine.A Kirker and Green advertising mirow from the Connswater Distillery in Belfast, which closed in 1929, is a leading lot in the pub memorabilia section. There is a highly collectible Mitchell’s Whiskey mirror, Capstan and Players cigarette machines and some bottles of rare Irish whiskey. The catalogue is online and Victor Mee is hosting actual viewings for the first time in two years. Auctions are at 5 pm on March 14, 15 and 16.
Aidan Foley will offer the contents of the Ardhu Bar, Ennis Road, Limerick at an online auction due to begin at noon on March 13. Included is a long bespoke mahogany bar counter, outdoor benches, whiskey barrels, parasols, bar furniture and sound systems. There is viewing at the bar today from noon to 4 pm.
The first highlights from the collection of Hubert de Givenchy were unveiled by Christie’s today. They include Woman Walking by Alberto Giacometti (€20-30 million); Passage of the Migratory Bird by Joan Miro (€2.5 – €3.5 million) and Faun with a Spear by Pablo Picasso (€1.5 – 2 million). With over 1,200 lots dating from the 17th to the 20th century, this collection features a remarkable gathering of nearly 800 pieces of French and European furniture, including many masterpieces of classical furniture from the French Regency period to the Neoclassical period and onwards.
In the decoration of his homes, Hubert de Givenchy always considered the furniture in constant dialogue with the works of art, both ancient and modern. Alongside numerous major sculptures and paintings by old masters such as Hubert Robert, the collection includes several masterpieces of modern art: from the couturier’s friend and collaborator Alberto Giacometti’s Woman Walking, a key painting by Joan Miró never before presented on the market, several works by Alberto’s brother, Diego Giacometti and more contemporary works by Claudio Bravo and François-Xavier Lalanne.
Already underway in Palm Beach, a selection of works from the collection will be previewed in several cities including New York, Los Angeles and Hong Kong. Sales will take place in Paris from June 14-17 and online from June 8-23.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for February 2, 2022)
