Mick Jagger by Andy Warhol at Art Source at the RDS.
The winter art sale season with a feast in store is kick started in Ireland this weekend by Art Source at the RDS. With more than 200 artists and galleries this is Ireland’s largest art fair with a huge selection of affordable art. Highlights include a portrait of Mick Jagger by Andy Warhol and work by Tracey Emin exhibited by Gormleys. Expected to draw more than 15,000 visitors the event features the Irish debut of Naples based Fonderia Artistica Ruocco.
This is a prelude to the season’s major sales of important Irish art. An online sale by Morgan O’Driscoll on November 24 with highlights by Yeats, O’Malley, Blackshaw and George Mounsey Wheatley Atkinson will be followed by Dublin auctions by de Veres and Gormleys on November 25. Roderic O’Conor, William Leech, Paul Henry, Yeats and Mainie Jellett are at de Veres. Adams on November 26 offers art by Paul Henry, Yeats, Harry Clarke, Camille Souter, Gerard Dillon, Mary Swanzy and Hughie O’Donoghue. Among the highlights at Whyte’s on December 1 is work by John Luke, Paul Henry, Grace Henry, Frank McKelvey, Louis le Brocquy, Rowan Gillespie, Donald Teskey and John Behan.
Nature Morte by Roderic O’Conor at de Veres. UPDATE: THIS MADE 115,000 AT HAMMER
One of the more unusual items that Treasures Irish Art will bring to the Limerick fair today and tomorrow.
Collectors can expect the unexpected, and a lot of variety, at the National Antiques, Art and Vintage fair at Limerick Racecourse today and tomorrow (November 15 and 16) from 11 am on each day.
If you still haven’t found what you are looking for this is as good a place to start the search as any. More than 70 dealers from right around Ireland will be in attendance with everything from art, antique furniture and Persian rugs to jewellery, silver, ceramics, vintage fashion, banknotes, militaria and even a suit of armour.
Little wonder that this is one of the most popular events on Ireland’s annual antique calendar. Running now for 35 years the three to five times yearly Limerick fair continues to go from strength to strength.
A Clarice Cliff Bizarre Nasturtium pattern bowl from 1933 at Edwin Mercer’s stand.
Be inspired by some stylish ceramics at Brian Hurley’s stand or a pair of opal and emerald earrings at Edwin Mercer’s stand. This is where you will also find a full set of Beswick 757 flying swallows of a type that went out of production in 1973 and a Bizarre Nasturtium pattern Clarice Cliff bowl dating to 1933 in superb condition.
There are paintings, furniture and decorative objects at Country Mile Antiques while Joe Burns Foundry Antiques will offer metal wall sconces, candlesticks and lanterns. The Purple Onion Gallery will bring art along with some Havana cigars and a selection of French wines.
A selection of smaller furniture pieces from Greene’s Antiques.
A walk through the fair will bring you to no less than six coin, banknote and militaria dealers. There are gold Albert chains, silver chains, diamonds, precious and semi precious stones, books, Art Deco bronze figures. Eddie Moylan is among those who will offer a selection of jewellery items. Demand for lovely old furniture may not be as strong as it was once but it has not gone away, and there are some stylish choices for modern homes like a marquetry inlaid kidney shaped tray at Greenes.
The variety on offer always extends to vintage fashion and Eily Henry will bring a choice selection of hats, handbags and accessories. No one enjoys the thrill of the chase quite as much as an established collector of anything from Victorian hat pins to Limerick silver to branded porcelain to rare coins to whatever you are having yourself when they happen across a long sought after coveted piece.
Markets and fairs are enduringly popular throughout Europe and beyond. This – the biggest one in Ireland this year – is an opportunity to find something unusual and different, maybe even to get a new collecting habit underway.
Robert Hutchinson will bring a selection of coins, banknotes and medals.
Trevor O’Callaghan will bring a selection of Corgi classic toys
Antique specialists of every type will assemble at the Corrin Events Centre near Fermoy on October 12 for the Cork Antique Fair. Following a highly successful first outing at this convenient venue with ample parking last October – the first fair for a number of years in Cork – Hibernian Antique Fairs are following up with another event here this year.
There will be more than 40 stands including antique shops, art galleries and vintage dealers including Treasures Irish Art of Athlone, Eily Henry, Trevor O’Callaghan, Raymond and Mary Byrne, Robert Hutchinson and Country Mile Antiques. Art, vintage fashion, furniture, silver, jewellery, porcelain, vintage boxed toys and all sorts of collectibles will be available. Opening times are from 11 am to 6 pm.
Eily Henry will bring a selection of vintage fashion
The National Antiques Fair at Limerick Racecourse on September 6 and 7 will offer everything from vintage fashion and clocks to Irish art, antique furniture, rugs and collectibles ranging from Havana cigars and vintage wine flagons to militaria, coins and banknotes.
Among the members of the Irish Antique Dealers Association in attendance at Limerick will be James Weldon, Courtville Antiques, Greene’s of Drogheda and Treasures Irish Art, Athlone. There will be a selection of vintage and affordable jewellery and more than 60 dealers will assemble at Limerick Racecourse which offers ease of access and ample parking. Opening times on both days are from 11 am to 6 pm.
Mark O’Neill – Framed by Wisteria at the Treasures stand at Birr antique fair.
Even though it is not on Route 66 antique lovers can get their kicks in Birr this bank holiday weekend. The antique and art fair that runs in conjunction with Birr Vintage Week is at the County Arms Hotel next on August 4 and 5.
With more than 30 dealers in antique furniture, art and collectibles from around the country in attendance this popular fair is a fixture at this time of year – as Birr celebrates all things retro with arts, theatre, music, street theatre, pop up performances, workshops and exhibitions until August 9.
There is treasure to be hunted for and found in this great period setting. The enjoyable and long running antique fair offers huge variety with everything from vintage Persian rugs to fine art, jewellery and antique furniture with collectibles galore.
Rarities include a 31 foot long Persian 1970’s Hamadan runner. It is just 2’8″ wide (9 metres by 900 centimetres). Norman Allison Antiques of Annamore, Co. Wicklow will include it among a selection of handwoven rugs and runners.
A selection of coins of Ireland at Birr antique fair.
Collectibles are always popular and Robert Hutchinson will offer a display of coins, banknotes and militaria including complete selections of coins of Ireland from 1934, 1939 and 1942.
There will be a selection of gold chains and charm bracelets at Eddie Moylan’s stand and vintage jewellery from Cherylann. The Purple Onion Gallery will bring a selection of work by Henry McGrane and other artists from their stable.
Treasures Irish Art of Athlone are stalwart supporters of this fair. Their selection will include “Framed by Wisteria” by Mark O’Neill and “Lough Inagh” by Grace Cunningham.
Organiser Robin O’Donnell confidently expects a great turnout of both regulars and newcomers to this heart of Ireland annual event. Along with rugs Norman Allison will offer art by the English Victorian landscape painter William Shayer (1787-1879) and a Regency double fusee wall clock. Raymond Byrne will offer small antique furniture pieces, old Irish glass, silver and collectibles.
Fairs like this are great hunting grounds for small pieces of silver, old Irish glass, fashion and accessories. You might not even know you really, really wanted it until you see it.
And if the wait until Monday proves to be too much then the Royal Marine Hotel in Dun Laoghaire is the venue for the south Dublin antiques, vintage and more fair tomorrow (August 3). This fair will offer antique and vintage furniture and interior decor, fine art, vintage kitchen and tableware, jewellery, rare books and memorabilia.
Dun Laoghaire is one of the most popular venues on the Vintage Ireland calendar of fairs.
Bluebell Walk, Boyne Valley by Henry McGrane at the Lismore fair
There will be a fine selection of everything from Irish art to antique furniture, vintage fashion and collectibles at the annual Lismore antique, art and vintage fair on July 6. Dealers from around the country will attend.
Treasures Irish Art of Athlone will bring a selection by Henry McGrane who paints in genres including landscape, still life and portraiture. Antique Irish glass and porcelain will feature on the stand of Brian Hurley of Kinsale and Jim Hyde Books will offer editions on local history, first editions, books by the world renowned Lismore travel writer Dervla Murphy and a big selection of fiction and non-fiction. The ever popular stand by Eily Henry will offer vintage hats and accessories. The fair will be open from 11 am to 6 pm.
A selection of vintage fashion from Eily Henry at the Lismore fair
Vagabond Antiques UK have brought this rare Italian Baroque cassettone to the Treasure House fair in London.
Treasure House, the flagship London summer fair, is in full swing this weekend at the Royal Hospital in Chelsea. Some of the world’s leading antique dealers are in attendance with a spectacular selection of furniture, silver, decorative arts and jewellery, boasting extraordinary provenance and the aura of the greatest makers of their time. This is the 3rd edition of a fair which is from a long tradition of summer art fairs in London. The 2025 edition marks the 91st anniversary of the establishment of the Antique Dealers’ Fair, later the Grosvenor House Art and Antiques Fair, followed in 2010 by Masterpiece.
Coulbourn and Sons will bring this 18th century child’s wardrobe in the form of a doll’s house to the Treasure House Fair in London.
No less than 70 internationally renowned exhibitors will take part in the Treasure House Fair at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea in London from June 26-July 1. Among leading British dealers taking part are Ronald Phillips, Richard Green, Osborne Samuel, Wartski, Adrian Sassoon, Butchoff Antiques, MacConnal-Mason, Godson & Coles, Koopman Rare Art, Frank Partridge, S.J. Phillips, Adrian Alan and Frank Partridge. They will present a spectacular selection of furniture, silver, decorative arts and jewellery.
International galleries include three New York institutions: the antique jeweller À La Vieille Russie, silver specialists S.J. Shrubsole and the leading authority in antique porcelain Michele Beiny. “We like to think of ourselves as a festival rather than an art fair” director and co-founder Thomas Woodham-Smith said. His grandmother was the historian Cecil Woodham-Smith, author of The Great Hunger. The Treasure House Fair was founded in 2023 by Woodham-Smith and Harry Van der Hoorn, co founders of the famed Masterpiece fair which ran from 2009-2022.
Phillip Mould will bring this c1932 Still Life with Fan by Vanessa Bell to the Treasure House Fair.
Limerick Racecourse is the convenient venue for a two day antique, vintage and collectibles fair today and tomorrow. With dealers from around the country and more than 60 stands offering everything from Irish art and furniture to jewellery, silver, vintage fashion, arms, militaria, coins, banknotes, porcelain and all sorts of collectible items this event is a magnet for collectors and anyone in pursuit of something quirky and different.
This big Limerick fair takes place several times each year, is hugely popular and draws an audience from throughout Munster and beyond. The appetite for fairs like this is undiminished. Hibernian Antique Fairs held their first fair in Cork for more than five years at Corrin Event Centre near Fermoy a couple of weeks ago and more than 1,000 people turned out in what was one of the biggest attendances at a one day fair in 40 years.
Stained glass from Birr Castle, the 1851 Plan of Cork by John Tallis, affordable antique furniture, new Irish art and vintage fashion can all be found at the Cork antique fair in Fermoy on May 25.
After an absence of five years Hibernian Antique Fairs will return to a new venue in Cork for a full to the brim event with 40 dealers from around Ireland. It will be held at the Corrin Event Centre three miles from Fermoy and just off exit 15 on the M8. There is ample space and lots of available parking for what promises to be a great day out.
1851 Map of Cork with insets
In a city still waiting for its event centre the ever popular Cork antique fair outgrew its previous locations and came to an end. Finding somewhere to host it has been difficult. In contrast the antique fairs at spacious Limerick Racecourse have repeatedly demonstrated strong demand and an appetite for more which speaks to the resilience of the antique trade in turbulent economic times.
At fairs in Limerick and Kerry organiser Robin O’Donnell is often asked when will he return to Cork. Now that the multi purpose Cork Marts complex has become available the answer should be more often than before. In advance of the first fair at Corrin he is already planning another in October.
Vintage headwear from Eily Henry
The market is continually evolving as collecting habits change. Unusual once off items are highly collectible and Norman Allison of Annamoe Antiques will present two windows in solid oak frames from Birr Castle. These are accompanied by an original 1983 receipt from Mike McGlynn Antiques, Bunratty, Co Clare in which he states that the c1835 stained glass panels were by the Earl of Rosse. The second earl, friend of Wolfe Tone and a critic of absentee landlords, was father of astronomer William Parsons, 3rd Earl, who in 1845 built what was then the world’s largest telescope in Birr.
Collectors will be interested in an 1851 Plan of Cork by John Tallis, a pair of Neoclassical 19th century bronze Medici urns on Siena marble plinths and a 6th century Limoges grisaille enamel plaque of a shepherdess. Treasures of Athlone will bring new art by James Brohan and the Purple Onion Gallery will offer a mix of contemporary art, photography, whiskey, wine and cigars.
Vintage hats to catch the eye can be found at Eily Henry’s stand and Eddie Moylan will bring some affordable gold jewellery. Greenes of Drogheda, Vintage Velvet and Raymond Byrne are among those offering antique furniture and a selection of smaller antique pieces which can be carried home along with everything from vintage toys to bullion to coins and banknotes. It all adds up to a a great day out enhanced by a sense of exploration and inspiration.
