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A number of furniture lots from country houses are to be included in Hegarty’s evening sale in Bandon in west Cork on Tuesday, August 14. It features lots from the 18th century Sunville House on The Square in Bantry and from Annedale House in Co. Leitrim. The catalogue will be on-line.  Meantime here is a small selection:

A William IV rosewood workbox (500-800).  UPDATE: IT MADE 550

A Japanese painted scroll (800-1,200). UPDATE: THIS MADE 380.

A 19th century Chinese ginger jar and cover (700-1,000).  UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD.

Dining suite
Oak, chestnut and linoleum, 1953, comprising of:
Large dining table: 79 x 160 x 64 cm.
Small dining table: 79 x 99.5 x 89.5 cm.
Ten dining chairs, each: 94 x 38 x 45 cm.
Estimate: £500,000 – 700,000. (Click on image to enlarge).

A collection of furnishings from Casa Cattaneo designed by Carlo Mollino – the most sought-after 20th century Italian designer – will feature at Christie’s sale of 20th Century Decorative Art & Design next October 23. Constructed on the foothills of the Alps, and benefitting from majestic views over Lake Maggiore, the Casa Cattaneo endures as a unique and complete surviving expression of Carlo Mollino’s distinctive architecture and interior design. Casa Cattaneo is the only private villa ever designed by Mollino and is one of very few of his structures to remain intact. Comprising 10 lots the collection is expected to realise in excess of £700,000.
From the late 1940’s to the mid 1950’s Carlo Mollino (1905-1973) produced a spectacular portfolio of works and projects including domestic commissions, hotel interiors and commercial developments. In the ’50’s and ’60’s he turned increasingly to technical projects, designing racetracks for cars, filling stations and aircraft hangers.  He held various technical patents and designed cars. Remarkably little physical evidence for such a versatile creator survives. Only a dozen of his buildings remain, most have been altered, abandoned or changed beyond recognition and furniture was produced in limited quantities for specific commissions.  Christie’s hold the auction record for a work by Mollino.  A unique oak, glass and wood table designed for Casa Orengo in 1949 sold for $3.8 million in New York in 2005.

Casa Cattaneo, overlooking Lake Maggiore.

Casa Cattaneo fireplace. (Click on image to enlarge).

A Chinese concentric puzzle ball on stand with figured decoration (750 – 1,000). UPDATE: THIS MADE 660

An unusual Chinese puzzle ball is a feature lot at Woodwards summer sale in Cork on July 18.  With numerous spheres and ornate carved decoration it sits on a circular base.  The estimate for the piece is 750-1,000. There is a collection of 25 Toby Mugs by Royal Doulton along with silver, furniture and collectibles. Collectors will also be interested in a Cork silver spoon by Carden Terry and Jane Williams dating to c1797. It is estimated at 100-150.

A Royal Doulton Toby jug “The Golfer” (70-150). UPDATE: THS MADE 40

A Regency inlaid and crossbanded rosewood sofa table (1,000 – 2,000). Click on image to enlarge).  UPDATE: THIS MADE 600

The top lot at the enormously successful two day sale at Mount Congreve was a Regency Carlton House desk. It made 82,000.  Rare antique furniture, Oriental porcelain,

This Regency Carlton House Desk sold for a hammer price of 82,000 at Mount Congreve. (Click on image to enlarge).

mirrors, chandeliers and books were among the items that contributed to outstanding results.

This blue and white baluster vase sold for 23,500 over an estimate of 2,000-3,000. It had been in an upstairs bedroom at Mount Congreve. (Click on image to enlarge).

Oriental porcelain tended to sell at prices far above professional estimates. Most of the buyers for these pieces bid on the internet from Hong Kong and mainland China, or from England on the telephone.  A blue and white meiping vase estimated at up to 12,000 made 50,000. Traditionally used to display plum blossoms this one was fitted for electricity and sported a faint hairline crack. A pair of Kangxi vases, also adapted for electricity, made 34,000 over a top estimate of 8,000.  These are hammer prices to which approximately 25 per cent in commissions, fees and charges must be added.

The auction of over 1,100 lots by Mealy’s in association with Christie’s was highly competitive and practically everything sold.  Around 10,000 people attended the viewing over three days.

A receipt for dinner at the Royal Cork Yacht Club in 1890. (Click on image to enlarge). UPDATE:  IT MADE 1,700.

Social historians will find lots of interest at the Lynes and Lynes sale at Carrigtwohill in July 14.  An insight into well to do life in late Victorian and Edwardian Cork is on offer  through a collection of invoices made out to a Major Newenham of Coolmore, Carrigaline, Co. Cork detailing everything from dinner at the Royal Cork Yacht Club in 1890, purchases of silver and a wedding notice on the then Cork Examiner newspaper and even a dozen tennis balls in 1911 from Elvery’s in Patrick St., Cork. The bill for dinner in 1890 was £10 and the tennis balls bought 21 years later cost 12 shillings and nine pence.

Furniture on offer includes an Georgian linen press, an early 19th century Cork sideboard, a set of Georgian dining chairs, a Victorian chesterfield couch, a circular dining table, a brass club fender and a Regency sofa table. The catalogue is on line.

UPDATE:  The Georgian linen press sold for 3,100 at hammer, the Cork sideboard was unsold, the Georgian dining chairs made 600, the chesterfield made 820, the circular dining table sold for 800,  the Regency sofa table made 700 and the book of invoices made 1,700.