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    ARRAY OF WONDERFUL CHOICE AT SHEPPARDS IN DURROW

    Saturday, October 4th, 2025

    An English Chippendale giltwood mirror in the rococo and chinoiserie style UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    An array of wonderful choices – from a giltwood Chippendale mirror and a neo classical group of marble Italian putti to an Audemars Piguet royal oak offshore  with an alligator leather strap and a pair of hexagonal gilt bronze hall lanterns – will face collectors at Sheppard’s Legacy of the Big House sale in Durrow from October 7-9.

    The variety on offer at this three day sale of more than 1,700 lots ranges from a late 17th century Flemish verdure tapestry and a Cork flintlock blunderbuss with a brass barrel to an original film script for Lawrence of Arabia and a marine chronometer by Richard Hornby of Liverpool.

    The most expensively estimated lots, at €30,000-€50,000 each, are the elaborate late 18th/early 19th century Chippendale giltwood mirror and the Audemars Piguet royal oak offshore which dates to the 2010’s.   A 19th century Irish giltwood console table with verde antico marble top (€10,000-€15,000) and an Italian grand tour pietra dura topped coffee table (€8,000-€12,000) offer contrasting approaches to furniture but each one is laden with style. There is contrast too between a large 12 branch Waterford Crystal chandelier (€2,500-€3,500) and a pair of 19th century hexagonal gilt bronze hall lanterns (€8,000-€12,000).

    An Irish gilt console table. UPDATE: THIS MADE 9,500 AT HAMMER

    Less expensive but nonetheless seductive style is readily available at the other end of the financial scale. A cut crystal water jug, a silver plated rectangular tray, an Edwardian satinwood chest, a pair of Picasso ceramic plates and a large Japanese mixed metal vase are among a number of lots with top estimates of under €100. With estimates from €5 and €10 up this is an auction for people on any budget and curious collectors at all levels of the market.  Collecting is not the exclusive preserve of those who can afford original Picasso artworks, it is a habit that can offer enjoyment for everyone.

    Cleopatra after Guido Reni  UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    Drawn from houses at Longford Terrace in Dun Laoghaire and Rostrevor Terrace, Orwell Road in Dublin and other significant properties the sale kicks off with an 18th century Dublin brass fire fender (€1,400-€1,800).  Among the early lots are a Famille Rose ewer (€100-€150), an elbow chair by Butler of Dublin (€300-€500), a Sevres plate with a Watteau inspired theme (€500-€800) and a grand tour specimen marble table (€3,000-€5,000). Lot 52 is a large scale portrait of Cleopatra with the asp after Guido Reni (€5,000-€8,000), lot 284 is a large 17th/18th century gothic carved giltwood frame (€14,000-€18,000), lot 450 is a 19th century gilt and patinated bronze figural music box (€2,500-€3,500) and lot 433 is a patinated bronze statue of Napoleon on horseback (€6,000-€9,000).

    The catalogue is online and viewing in Durrow is from 10 am to 5 pm on today, tomorrow and Monday.

    An 18th century blunderbuss marked “Cork”  UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    RARE DRESS SWORD PRESENTED BY EAST INDIA COMPANY AT ADAMS

    Saturday, October 4th, 2025

     A rare and important dress sword at Adams Country House Collections sale at Townley Hall. UPDATE; this made 280,000 at hammer

    A rare dress sword set with diamonds in 18 carat gold with London hallmarks for 1800-01 will lead Adams annual two day Country House Collections sale at Townley Hall near Drogheda.  Presented by the East India Company to Armagh born Lt. Col. Barry Close, later Major General Sir Barry Close (1756-1813), a skilled negotiator and linguist, it is estimated at €300,000-€400,000. Close was a pivotal figure in the Mysore campaigns against Tipu Sultan. Viewing gets underway at Townley Hall on October 11.  The sale on Monday week October 13 will be online only and the live auction of lots 400-825 will be held at Adams, St. Stephen’s Green in Dublin on October 14. The catalogue is online.

    IRISH LOTS IN CLOSING AUCTION OF RENOWNED NEW YORK ANTIQUE SHOP

    Friday, October 3rd, 2025

    An Irish George II Pine Pier Mirror after a Design by William Jones, attributed to the Booker Family, Dublin, Circa 1740. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $38,100

    This c1740 Dublin mirror is one of a number of Irish lots from the Hyde Park antiques farewell sale at Sotheby’s in New York on October 15. The estimate is $20,000-30,000. The historic 19th century gallery of Hyde Park Antiques on Broadway just south of Union Square has long been a treasure trove for designers, collectors and curators seeking antiques that are both museum-quality level and intended to be lived with. Founder Benard Karr, later joined by his daughter Rachel, shared their passion and knowledge with clients. After sixty years the Karrs have decided to close their gallery and Sotheby’s will auction over two hundred lots from their inventory on October 15 in New York.

    FROM A PROCLAMATION TO NUNS ON THE RUN

    Saturday, September 27th, 2025

    A Rolls Royce Corniche at Victor Mee’s sale in Tipperary. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    An original copy of the Irish Proclamation in Castlecomer, a Sheik’s Rolls Royce at New Inn in Co. Tipperary, art in Dublin and a reminder of nuns on the run – what is not to like among the auction offerings in Ireland this week.

    An original copy of the Proclamation,  first, limited and signed editions by Irish and international authors, a collection of Seamus Heaney material, rare maps, fine bindings and the earliest extant programme for the 1913 All Ireland senior hurling final are all included in Fonsie Mealy’s rare book and collectors sale in Castlecomer on October 1 and 2.

    An original copy of The Proclamation at Fonsie Mealy. UPDATE: THIS MADE 90,000 AT HAMMER

    More than 1,200 lots, headed by the Proclamation with an estimate of €100,000-€150,000, will come under the hammer. Rarities include an 18 carat gold medal presented in 1846 to Timothy O’Brien of Johnston Mooney and O’Brien for his continued exertions in the manufacture of bread from Indian corn (Trevelyan’s corn) (€15,000-€20,000).  A scribal manuscript of Keating’s History of Ireland, transcribed for the use of Edward Denny of Tralee Castle, is similarly estimated.  The  antiquarian and local history library of the late Tony Bocking of Kinsale is included.  The sale will be at the Avalon House Hotel and the auction is on view at Fonsie Mealy’s next Monday and Tuesday. The catalogue is online.

    A Rolls Royce in a convent auction recalls the group of elderly Poor Clare nuns who made international headlines in 1990 after selling their convent in Bruges and moving to a life of luxury in the South of France.  Alas, Victor Mee’s sale of contents from the Convent of Mercy at New Inn in Co. Tipperary, which includes both a Rolls and a Bentley, will feature lots from other clients too.

    The Hooper built Rolls Royce Corniche in the sale was once owned by Sheik Abdelaziz bin Ahmed Al Thani. Lot 914 and estimated at €60,000-€120,000. A 1992 Bentley is more modestly estimated at €6,000-€12,000. The wide ranging collection on offer will include antique furniture, collectibles, Irish art, clocks, lighting, kitchen equipment, carpets and rugs among 1,200 lots. 

    A 19th century Killarney work table at Victor Mee. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    There will be much interest in a Killarney wood work table (€5,000-€8,000), a specimen marble chess table (€5,000-€8,000), an Irish Georgian breakfront bookcase (€3,500-€5,500) and a 19th century French clock garniture (€2,000-€4,000).  Artists Edwin Hayes, Louis le Brocquy, Peter Curling, Cecil Maguire and Graham Knuttel will feature along with an Adoration of the Christ Child, a 19th century Italian work after Corregio.  A sandstone two tier fountain is estimated at €2,000-€3,000 and there is some garden sculpture. The auction on September 28 is both online and in room, the sale on September 29 will be online only. 

    An All-Ireland hurling final programme from 1913, the first final at Jones Road, at Fonsie Mealy. UPDATE: THIS MADE €11,000 at hammer

    HANDSOME PAIR OF GAINSBOROUGH ARMCHAIRS AT SHEPPARDS

    Friday, September 26th, 2025

    PAIR OF 19TH-CENTURY GAINSBOROUGH ARMCHAIRS IN BUTTONED LEATHER UPHOLSTERY

    This handsome pair of library armchairs will come up as lot 238 at Sheppard’s three day sale in Durrow from October 7-10. The Legacy of the Big House sale will offer around 1700 lots of Irish and international art, furniture, sculpture, lighting, arms, books and decorative objects. Viewing gets underway in Durrow on October 4 and the catalogue is online. The chairs are estimated at €5,000-€8,000.

    EXCEPTIONAL SATINWOOD SIDE CABINETS AT VICTOR MEE

    Monday, September 22nd, 2025

    One of a pair of satinwood inlaid side cabinets. UPDATE: THIS LOT MADE 2,300 AT HAMMER

    A pair of exceptional satinwood wide cabinets will feature among the top furniture lots at Victor Mee’s auction of contents from the former Convent of Mercy at New Inn in Co. Tipperary on September 28 and 29. The catalogue features lots from other clients too. A total of 1230 lots will come under the hammer.

    SMALL ANTIQUE FURNITURE PIECES AT WOODWARDS

    Monday, September 22nd, 2025

    William IV combination games/sewing table. UPDATE: THIS MADE 320 AT HAMMER

    A Regency inlaid teapoy, William IV games/sewing table or a Georgian davenport. Any of these petite antique furniture items would grace a modern house or apartment and all three will come under the hammer with reasonable estimates at Woodwards in Cork on September 27.   The teapoy and the games table are reckoned to make €400-€600 each while the davenport has an estimate of €500-€800.

    There is a good selection of antique pieces in this sale, from a harlequin set of Cork 11-bar dining chairs (€1,000-€1,500), a Victorian walnut tallboy (€400-€600) and a Georgian hexagonal cellarette (€600-€800) to an Irish Regency secretaire bookcase (€1,000-€1,200), a Georgian walnut bureau (€800-€1,200) and a Georgian kneehole desk (€400-€600).  All have provided sterling and elegant service for many years and can do so for many more.  The auction offers a large gilt framed mirror (€600-€800), a set of four gilt framed mirrors (€1,000-€1,500), a selection of Persian rugs and three French chandeliers and many other items of interest.  The catalogue is online.

    TREASURES FROM CASTLE MATRIX AT FOLEY AUCTION

    Saturday, September 13th, 2025

    Some of the guns to be sold from the collection at Castle Matrix.

    Hidden in plain sight the treasures of Castle Matrix  – mostly to be sold without reserve at three online evening sales by Aidan Foley – are many and varied.  Militaria, books and collectibles from a collector with an inquiring mind who led a fascinating life will come under the hammer.

    Col. Sean O’Driscoll was aide to General Douglas MacArthur when he accepted the Japanese surrender in 1945.  On retirement in 1961 the Irish-American officer bought and restored Castle Matrix near Rathkeale, originally built around 1420, opening it for mediaeval banquets in 1971. Castle Matrix served as headquarters of the International Institute of Military History and the Heraldry Society of Ireland and it remained open for tours until the colonel’s death in 1991. 

    A large rug and some uniforms

    Take a deep dive into the auction by Aidan Foley in Doneraile on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday week (September 22, 23 and 24) and there is no knowing what you might find.  More than 300 lots of books will be sold in an auction with a total of 997 lots.

    The extensive library contains works on everything from war, ancient and modern Irish culture, English homes and Scottish castles to mystic Madame Blavatsky who once told WB Yeats: “There are only about half a dozen real Theosophists in the world.  And one of those is stupid”.  O’Driscoll must have had a real interest in the occult.  His castle is reputedly haunted by the murdered 9th Earl of Desmond and in an address to the Fellowship of Isis in 1976 he claimed the poet Edmund Spenser, Sir Walter Raleigh and the wizard Earl of Desmond had practiced magic there.  

    Isis Unveiled by Madame Blavatsky

    You can’t shoot a ghost but more than 50 guns from a military man and a collector are on offer. Flintlock pistols, double barrel shotguns, rifles with bayonets and even a Colt revolver along with accoutrements like an armoured tank telescope and the tunic of an American platoon sergeant are there to be picked up.

    In storage at Collins Barracks, Cork over the years the guns will be sold under strict conditions. Some are decommissioned, others not, and no drug dealers need apply.  There will be limited viewing of the firearms at the Doneraile auction rooms where the sale will be on view for four days from next Friday (September 19).

    Many of the Japanese swords he collected with discrimination were sold by Whyte’s in 2017.  Available now is a selection of art, Irish silver, Persian rugs, porcelain, antique and vintage furniture.  Among the artists featured are Ivan Sutton, Markey Robinson, Graham Knuttel, John Kingerlee, James Humbert Craig, Michael Hales, Louis le Brocquy, Picasso (a lithograph) and pencil drawings by John Butler Yeats.  The catalogue is online.

    Library of Congress Washington Papers, 1775-80 

    HIGH ART MERGED WITH FUNCTIONAL LIVING AT THIS SALE

    Saturday, September 6th, 2025

    Claude Lalanne – Unique Structure Vegetale bed. UPDATE: THIS MADE £889,000

    Prices everywhere are skyrocketing so how about a bed for €346,000.  Not imaginary, not just any old bed and probably not a bad investment.  The Unique Structure Vegetale bed in gold patinated bronze was commissioned directly from Claude Lalanne in 2012 by Pauline Karpidas. It is described by Sotheby’s, who estimate it at £200,000-£300,000 (€230,880-€346,000), as a fusion of nature, surrealism and personal sanctuary.

    Pauline Karpidas first met the Lalannes – Francois Xavier (1927-2008) and Claude (1924-2019) – in 1978 at their magical home and workshop at Ury, outside Paris, in 1978.  Long before they became synonymous with global superstardom in the worlds of art and interiors she was one of their first collectors. No less than 60 works by Les Lalannes, including many uniquely designed commissions, will feature at Sotheby’s day and evening sales of her collection on September 17 and 18 and the online sale which runs from September 8 until September 19.

    Claude Lalanne – detail, Structure Vegetale

    The Surrealistic contents of the London home of this trailblazing collector, 250 lots with an estimate of £60 million (€69.34 million) in total, constitute the most valuable designated collection ever to be offered in Europe.  She shares with Les Lalannes a knack of seamlessly merging high art and functional living and the sale offers masterpieces by Hans Bellmer, Max Ernst, Yves Tanguy, René Magritte, Leonora Carrington, Salvador Dalí, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons.  

    Leonora Carrington – The Hour of the Angelus. UPDATE: THIS MADE £952,500

    Among them are La Statue volante (The Flying Statue), one of Magritte’s most enigmatic paintings from the last decade of his career (£9 million – £12 million)(€10.4 million – €13.87 million).  A 1949 work by Leonora Carrington, The Hour of the Angelus (£600,000-£800,000)(€693,420-€924,560) reflects the inspiration she drew from Mexico’s traditions where Aztec, Mayan and Catholic beliefs coexisted in harmony.  It echoes the myths passed down to Carrington by her Irish grandmother.  The treasure trove of paintings includes two works by Andy Warhol inspired by Munch, his favourite artist alongside Henri Matisse.

    The Manchester born collector credits her late husband Constantine (Dinos) Karpidas, a Greek shipping magnate, with opening her eyes to the beauty of wonderful things. After coming face to face with exceptional Surrealist paintings at the Athens home of gallerist Alexander Iolas in 1974 her love of art took on an entirely new life. She studied Surrealism, visiting galleries and libraries and museums and became friends with Les Lalanne, Warhol and others along the way.  This is the lifetime journey of a true collector who honed her eye and her sensibility as she delved deep into her subject.

    An immersive exhibition telling the story of the journey of Pauline Karpidas over half a century gets underway at Sotheby’s in London on September 8.

    Rene Magritte – La Statue volante. UPDATE: THIS MADE £10,120,000

    LIVE AND ONLINE AUCTION BY REILLY’S IN PROSPEROUS

    Tuesday, September 2nd, 2025

    Rare Almost Pair of Inlaid Burr Walnut Bonheurs du Jour. UPDATE: THESE WERE UNSOLD

    This exceptional near pair of bonheurs du jour will lead the live and online auction by Reilly’s in Prosperous, Co. Kildare on September 6. The estimate is €3,500-3,900. The live and online auction, which will includes contents from Ardeen House, Ballysax, The Curragh, offers a good selection of antique furniture along with porcelain, paintings, prints, clocks and barometers along with rugs, mirrors and various collectibles. The catalogue is online.