Two mid-19th century Indian chairs from Elveden Hall, Suffolk
These mid-19th century Indian chairs from Elveden Hall in Suffolk – former home of India’s last Sikh Maharajah, Duleep Singh (1838-1893) – date from his period at the house. Crafted in Bombay in c. 1850 they remained at Elvedon after his death, when ownership changed to the Guinness brewing family. Elveden Hall was purchased by Edward Cecil Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh (1847-1927). At auction for the first time in over 40 years the chairs will be offered in London by Olympia Auctions on November 26 with an estimate of £8,000-£12,000. UPDATE: THESE SOLD FOR £8,000
Contents from the Old Head of Kinsale golf links clubhouse will be auctioned online without reserve by O’Donovan’s of Newcastlewest, on November 29 at 10 am. Many of the wrought iron tables and chairs, complete with a fossilised ammonite design, were custom made and imported from California in the 1990’s. There are 50 vintage copper ships lanterns, brass portholes, imported large alabaster lamps, streetlamps, framed pictures, candleabra and even a lobster tank. The catalogue with around 200 lots is online. Pictured here is the Lusitania bar from the clubhouse.
An early Fang reliquary. UPDATE: THIS MADE 34,000 AT HAMMER
An early Fang reliquary figure from early 19th century Gabon is, at €30,000-€50,000, the most expensively estimated lot at Sheppards two day sale in Durrow on November 25 and 26. More than 1,200 lots of fine and decorative art, silver, antique furniture and sculpture from Irish and international collections will come under the hammer.
Among them are a 15th century carved oak altarpiece, a landscape by James Arthur O’Connor, exceptional 18th century Dublin and London silver, a pair of Roman marble urns, a French clock garniture and a 19th century French ormolu perpetual calendar. Viewing is underway in Durrow and the catalogue is online.
A Georgian breakfront four door bookcase is among the leading lots at Marshs sale in Cork on November 29. A Regency Cork card table, a set of ten brass inlaid Regency Cork dining chairs, a Georgian sideboard, a French ebonised and gilt drawing room suite and a Regency card table are feature furniture lots. There is a large private collection of Irish and English silver along with dinner and tea services. The sale will be on view from November 26 and the catalogue is online.
19th century ormolu mounted marquetry and porcelain inlaid credenza at Sheppards. UPDATE: THIS MADE €3,800 AT HAMMER
Early Victorian fitted mahogany workbox UPDATE: THIS MADE 600 AT HAMMER
This quality early Victorian workbox is at Reilly’s live auction in Prosperous, Co. Kildare on November 22. The estimate is €900-€1,100. The auction of 447 lots will include contents from several houses and features rugs, mirrors, a selection of antique furniture, art and collectibles. The catalogue is online.
A 15th century Northern European altarpiece is among the highlights at Sheppards sale in Durrow on November 25 and 26. More than 1,200 lots of fine and decorative art, silver, furniture and sculpture drawn from Irish and international collections will be on offer including a Qing Dynasty silk wall hanging from Abbeyleix House. The altarpiece is estimated at €25,000-€45,000.
A 1914 Buick Tourer at Lynes and Lynes. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
An eyecatching turquoise tourer, rare antique jade pieces and a walnut chest on chest are among the choices available at auction now. The chest on chest is at Woodwards in Cork today (November 8) with an estimate of €1,000-€1,500). A carved walnut breakfast table with a similar estimate is also on offer here.
The 1914 Buick Tourer in fine condition is among the leading lights at Lynes and Lynes sale in Carrigtwohill on November 15. Contents from several Cork residences and two newly closed businesses, Canty’s Garage and the Cotton Ball pub ensure that there will be no shortage of local interest in this sale.
With everything from stuffed moose heads with antlers (€100-€200) to a bottle of Midleton Whiskey from the old West Cork Bottling Company in Bandon (€200-€300), a large old Murphy’s Stout and Porter sign and The Cork Cup from 1925, a greyhound trophy, there is plenty for collectors to browse over.
A pair of Satsuma vases at Lynes and Lynes. UPDATE: THESE MADE 550 AT HAMMER
The auction offers jewellery, clocks, mirrors, Cork dining chairs and other furniture, a selection of antique oil lamps, two five branch Waterford Crystal chandeliers, a pair of Satsuma vases and a 1940 portrait of the Cork businessman and founder of Sunbeam Wolsey William Dwyer (1887-1951) by Sean O’Sullivan.
Along with the Buick (€15,000-€20,000) rarities include two old Lady Lavery £10 notes from 1972 with printing errors. The estimate is €3,000-€4,000. Viewing from 10 am to 5 pm daily gets underway today (November 8).
A rare pale and black jade bear at Adams. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
With estimates from €80 (for an ashtray netsuke stag horn) to €80,000 for a large Buddhist temple painting or thangka the sale of fine Asian art at James Adam next Wednesday (November 12) is now on view in Dublin. There are rare antique jades like a celadon tiger face from the Western Zhou dynasty c1100-771 BC (€1,000-€1,200), lots of porcelain, enamels, cloisonne wares, fans, paintings, furniture, carpets, bronze plaques, carved ornaments and ivory, pendants, folding screens and masks among more than 400 lots.
The sale kicks off with four figures of seated Buddhist lions. From the Yongzheng period in China c1725 they are estimated at just €200-€300. The auction has already been on view in Paris. It is on weekend view at Adams at St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin from 1 pm to 5 pm today and tomorrow and from 10 am to 5 pm on Monday and Tuesday.
In Cork Woodwards has a good selection of antique furniture including a harlequin set of Cork chairs, a Victorian secretaire, a Georgian inlaid cellarette, a French bonheur du jour and a Victorian three tier dumb waiter. There is a set of 17 portraits of figures from The Rising by Rod Coyne. Other lots of note include a large Kashan carpet, a mounted Greenland goose and a large cast iron garden seat. All catalogues are online.
A Georgian walnut chest on chest at Woodwards. UPDATE: THIS MADE 525 AT HAMMER
A walnut and gilt metal chest by Luciano Frigerio. UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,800 AT HAMMER
The appetite for design has grown greatly since de Veres first introduced sales of designer furniture and contemporary art in this country. Design classics by Eileen Gray, Mies Van Der Rohe, Arne Jacobsen, Niels Moller and Finn Juhl and contemporary labelled pieces by makers like Ligne Roset, Roche Bobois and Knoll will come under the hammer at de Veres current timed online art and design sale which runs until November 4.
This is the 25th design auction by de Veres, who have seen interest grow and grow. There is statement art by Anne Madden, Mainie Jellett, Manar Al Shouha, Patrick Scott, Donald Teskey and John Shinnors and many other artists whose work sits particulary well with mid 20th century design. The auctioneers say that this is their biggest and best sale to date. It will be on view at the RHA from November 1-4.
A wool rug handwoven to a design by Mainie Jellett by Ceadogan Rugs. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
Petalas coffee table in jacaranda by Jorge Zalszupin at Adams. UPDATE: THIS MADE 10,000 AT HAMMER
Interiors created by architect designers like William Morris, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Frank Lloyd Wright, Cesar Manrique and Jorge Zalszupin have a seductive appeal that withstands the constant ebb and flow of fashion and is timeless.
Auctions underway in Ireland right now challenge chic antique home designers to build their own timeless lnteriors in genres that range from Mid Century Modern at James Adam to Irish Vernacular by Victor Mee, silver and collectibles at Woodwards and the contents of Cork antique shop Salvagem by Mitchelstown based Ray Alley Auctioneering.
The pickings are rich and mostly affordable, though it must be said that you will not come across objects like Zalszupin’s Petalas coffee table in Jacaranda every day. At €10,000-€15,000 it is among the most expensively estimated lots at Adams in Dublin on October 21. The noted Jewish Polish Brazilian architect designer, who died aged 98 in 2000, founded L’Atelier in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 1959. The iconic Petalas table captures many of his core concerns like minimal ornament, excellence in material, structural innovation and an approach to modernism that is lyrical.
The sale at Adams offers furniture by Eileen Gray, Finn Juhl, Arne Jacobsen, Niels Otto Muller, Arne Vodder, Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand, Gerrit Rietveld, le Corbusier, Charles Eames, Monika Graffeo and a range of illustrious designers. There is art by Anselm Kiefer, Alexander Calder, Gerard Byrne, John Boyd, Patrick Graham, Merlin James, Picasso, Georges Rouault, Elizabeth Magill, Liam Belton, Sean Scully and others along with a selection of rugs, lighting and collectible objects.
A silver freedom box at Woodwards sale today. UPDATE: THIS MADE 5,250 AT HAMMER
Irish and English silver, art, militaria and various collectibles will come under the hammer online at Woodwards from 10 am today. The sale is headed by an 1808 silver freedom box by Kean Mahony of Cork with Dublin assay marks (€8,000-€12,000) and a large Birds in Flight bronze by John Behan (€6,000-€10,000). There is Cork and Irish silver including a pair of c1760 salvers by William Reynolds, Cork, a large silver bowl by Padraig O Mathuna with Dublin hallmarks for 1974, a pair of c1780 serving spoons by Maurice Fitzgerald, Limerick and a London silver tea set.
Collectors will find everything from an early 19th century Irish settle bench and a scumbled pine kitchen cupboard to spongeware, a dug out chair, painted pine dressers and hand cut limestone troughs at Victor Mee’s Irish vernacular sale on October 19. These were staples of rural Irish homes made by local people using materials to hand.
A 19th century painted pine dresser from Co. Clare at Victor Mee. UPDATE: THIS MADE 900 AT HAMMER
Irish spongeware pottery made from clay is loved for its colourful decoration and the sale offers a selection of Irish and French pieces. There are floor candle holders and a rare rush light holder from Co. Fermanagh, kitchen tables, chairs, milking stools, a cast iron skillet pot, banks of drawers, wall racks and a 19th century pine washboard in a selection of over 700 lots calculated to stir many old memories of an Ireland that is now vanished.
Antique furniture, rugs, collectibles and lighting from Salvagem, the McCurtain St., Cork antique shop which closed last month, will be auctioned today at the Metropole Hotel in Cork and online by Ray Alley Auctioneering of Mitchelstown. Estimates are very reasonable and the catalogue is online. Salvagem operated since 2020 in an era when many antique shops have been lost. Salvagem owner Michael Wall hopes to continue with an online shop.
A Cork Regency sofa table at the sale of contents from Salvagem antique shop today. UPDATE: THIS MADE 300 AT HAMMER
CIRCLE OF JOHN WOOTTON (1682-1764) – A Race on the Beacon Course at Newmarket Races with the Prince of Wales and other Noblemen in the Foreground
A rare officer’s dress sword with gold and diamonds was the top lot at the James Adam Country House Collections sale at Townley Hall. The sword was Presented by the East India Company to Lt. Col. Barry Close (1756-1813) and made a hammer price of €280,000. A painting of a race at Newmarket from the Circle of John Wootton made €55,000; an American silver gilt dinner service made €36,000: a painting of the Hawkesbury River in Australia by Girolamo Nerli (1860-1926) made €32,000; A Prospect of the Most Famous Parts of the World by John Speed made €18,000 and a Louis XV style bureau made €16,000.
Attributed to James Seymour – Sir Edward O’Brien in Hunting Costume of his Day. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
Behind this portrait of a man on a horse – one of the leading lots at Adams Country House Collections at Townley Hall on October 13 and 14 – lies a partial history of sporting life in Ireland in the 18th century. Attributed to James Seymour it is a painting of Sir Edward O’Brien of Dromoland in the hunting costume of his day estimated at €50,000-€80,000.
Renowned for his extravagance and passion for horse racing the 2nd baronet of Dromoland entered the Irish House of Commons in 1727 and represented Clare until his death nearly four decades later. He epitomised a certain type of Irishman renowned in song and story in the 18th century.
This was in the century that witnessed the first steeplechase from Buttevant to Doneraile (resulting from a bet in 1752) and the Rakes of Mallow. The song written by Ned Lysaght around 1740 describes the rakes as the true begotten sons of Bacchus spending faster than it comes. Known for his heavy gambling and reckless managemen O’Brien knew the pleasures and perils of 18th century sporting culture. On the plus side the walled garden, the stable block, the Temple of Mercury, the octagonal pond and the Dromoland turret were all constructed under his watch. On the minus side his lifestyle prevented him from being chosen as heir to the vast Thomond estates.
A c1750 Irish bureau-writing cabinet UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
Now an annual auction fixture Adams Country House Collections at Townley Hall showcases fine period furniture, paintings, silver and decorative arts. Highlights include the dress sword presented by the East India Company to Lt. Col. Barry Close (€300,000-€400,000), a painting from the circle of John Wootton (1682-1764) of a race on the Beacon Course at Newmarket with the Prince of Wales and others believed to include Sir Edward O’Brien in the foreground (€60,000-€80,000), a c1750 Irish George II mahogany bureau cabinet (€40,000-€60,000) and a portrait entitled Nellie by Sir George Clausen (€20,000-€30,000) once in the collection of the late Cork artist Marshall Hutson.
An American silver gilt dinner service (€30,000-€50,000), a pair of Limerick silver salvers by Joseph Johns (€15,000-€20,000) and a pair of silver sauce boats by Paul de Lamerie (€8,000-€12,000) feature among the leading lots.
A George III commode attributed to William Moore UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
A George III harewood and marquetry commode attributed to William Moore (€20,000-€30,000), a George III three pillar extending dining table (€15,000-€20,000), a c1850 Victorian carved oak extending dining table from Dunecht House in Scotland (€12,000-€18,000), a pair of c1770 carved giltwood console tables with yellow marble Siena tops (€12,000-€16,000), a pair of Irish stained pine side tables with green marble tops (€12,000-€15,000) and a 17th century Louis XIV boulle and red tortoiseshell desk (€10,000-€15,000) are feature antique furniture pieces.
As in any big sale there are plenty of pickings for those of us whose budget does not extend to an €80,000 portrait, no matter how colourful the gentleman depicted used to be. With everything from Georgian knife boxes to a Cork silver basting spoon by Carden Terry to a 1729 book on The Procedure, Extent and Limits of Human Understanding by Dr. Peter Browne (1665-1735) theologian, Bishop of Cork and Ross and Provost of Trinity College, Dublin there is available a wide variety of lots at highly affordable estimates.
Viewing at Townley Hall, Drogheda is underway. An online only auction of the first 317 lots will begin to close from 2 pm on October 13. The live and online sale of lots 400-825 will get underway at Adams saleroom in Dublin on October 14.
A pair of c1760 Limerick silver salvers by Joseph Johns. UPDATE: THESE WERE UNSOLD
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for October 4, 2025)
