Hegarty’s, the Bandon auctioneers, had a large March auction in the pipeline when Covid-19 restrictions were introduced. They reduced the catalogue and held their first live online only sale instead. Bidders logged in from all over Ireland, the UK, across Europe and from as far away as Australia and the USA on the night. Working from home with built up catalogued stock they have since put together a small timed online auction of 159 lots of furniture, art, jewellery and collectibles, with free storage available on all items. The auction is now live on The Saleroom and it runs until April 30.
A marble topped console table at Hegarty’s sale (1,000-1,200). UPDATE: THIS MADE 950 AT HAMMER
Is the future of the art and antiques market forever changed or is this just a temporary blip? The answer probably lies somewhere between each of these positions. When the pandemic lockdown was implemented it appeared everything would revert once it was lifted. Now it is apparent that this is not so. Covid-19 has not gone away. We will have to live with sensible precautions like social distancing for some time, even as the restrictions are eased.The auction houses of Ireland and everywhere else are in uncharted waters. Social distancing is not possible at busy viewings as we knew them, nor in crowded auction rooms. New ways to keep the business afloat must be found. Technology is an obvious answer but it is not for everyone or everything. Early indications from online sales around the world are that millennials are happier to buy online than the older billionaires who populate the global contemporary art market. Whether auction houses are prepared to sell big ticket items online is as yet far from clear. The number of private sales has been growing in latter years.
Christie’s and Phillips have consolidated their Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary art sales into one 20th century week in New York – to include the London sales – scheduled at this stage for the end of June. Sotheby’s has yet to announce what is to become of its contemporary marquee sale scheduled for May 13 in New York. This sale was to be anchored by Francis Bacon’s Triptych Inspired by the Oresteia of Aeschylus with an estimate of at least $60 million. Sotheby’s has announced that the week long Spring Hong Kong series will now take place from July 5-11 in Hong Kong. The auctions cover Chinese ceramics and paintings, modern and contemporary art, jewellery, watches and wine.
Meantime the full online sales programme by the biggest auction houses is drawing enthusiastic participation from collectors. These sales have been expanded significantly across numerous categories.
Nude, a lithograph by Henri Matisse, made €3,800 at hammer at Morgan O’Driscoll’s online sale this week.
As collectors spend more time online enjoying, learning about, and buying the art and objects they love, Christie’s has significantly expanded its online-only sale offerings across numerous collecting categories, including new themed sales of contemporary art. Among the sales launching globally across the company in April and May are Andy Warhol: Better Days, a fundraising auction to help provide emergency relief to artists throughout the U.S. and HANDPICKED: 100 Works Selected by the Saatchi Gallery.
Christie’s will open a new batch of online-only sales for bidding on a weekly basis, with each timed auction ranging from 14 to 21 days. The number of sales planned for the second quarter will continue to grow, leveraging the remote sale administration capabilities of Christie’s teams in New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong.
Newly scheduled sales span 20th Century art, Asian Art, Decorative Arts, Photography, Science and Natural History, as well as Jewels, Watches, and Handbags. In 2019, Christies attracted over 13.3 million visitors worldwide and 41% of new buyers came in through online sales.
Andy Warhol, Ocean View, 1975 / Andy Warhol and Henry Geldzahler, 1979 / unique Polaroid prints
Adapt or perish might well be the mantra for an art and antiques market in a state of flux. Tough times are sending a strong signal to the tough to get going. The future will be different. The pandemic has accelerated the movement towards online sales. Change has come quickly. Locally, nationally and internationally many auctioneers who had previously featured a mix of online and in house sales are adapting fast to a market where the uncertain future is rapidly becoming less short term. Many report that website traffic is busier than ever before. Those auctioneers who took the plunge immediately after the lockdown have been finding significant success. True, many auctions have been postponed. As of now the schedule of upcoming sales in Ireland is a bit thin. In a highly varied market place it is not a case of one size fits all. Some lots lend themselves to online sales better than others. Those that have gone ahead, often in a revised manner, are demonstrating that it can work, in some cases marvellously well. Julien’s achieved spectacular results with their Beatles online only sale. The top lot at an online auction originally to have taken place at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York was Paul McCartney’s handwritten lyrics to “Hey Jude”. This sold for $910,000 over an estimate of $160,000-180,000 in an auction which attracted a global audience of registered bidders.
Contemporary art, the most speculative segment of the market, has taken a hit in the lockdown. This proved true at Morgan O’Driscoll’s sale when three works by Jeff Koons failed to find buyers. Koons is one of the world’s most expensive living artists. Damien Hirst also failed to sell. Perhaps the time has come to put your faith, and investment money, in Old Masters. Morgan O’Driscoll did have a highly successful sale. The top lot, Paul Henry’s Celtic Cross in a West of Ireland landscape made €105,000 at hammer. Other top hammer prices were: George Barret, Landscape with Figures, €36,000; Gerard Dillon,Shawl, €24,000; Daniel O’Neill, Choosing Flowers, €24,000; Paul Henry, Mountain Landscape with lake and road €22,000; Tony O’Malley, Clare Island Greys, €19,000; Louis le Brocquy, William Butler Yeats, €18,000; Hughie O’Donoghue, Medusa Hold €17,000; William Conor, Forty Winks, €14,000; John Shinnors, Roxboro Road bus stop €14,000; Donald Teskey, Longshore IV. €14,000; Norah McGuinness, The Black Swan, €14,000; Spring Bogland, Ballinaboy by Kenneth Webb €12,000; Sir John Lavery, Portrait of William Burton Harris €12,000; Abstract Composition by William Scott €10,500; Patrick O’Reilly, Pegasus, €10,000 and John Behan, Wild Swans at Coole, €9,500.
Aidan Foley was pleased with two days of online sales at Sixmilebridge and plans more on the May Bank Holiday weekend. Among his main lots were Spring Evening by Arthur Maderson which made €2,100 at hammer and The Stars Serenade by Annie Robinson which made €1,350.At Matthews 437 lot online sale, which lasted from 6.30 pm until nearly midnight on Tuesday, a Zambian emerald ring made €17,200 at hammer and a sapphire and diamond target ring made €10,000. All of which goes to suggest that those auctioneers who are adapting to the new realities are not perishing.
An early 19th century Irish walnut side table from a private collection in Connecticut is one of a number of Irish pieces at an online sale now running at Sotheby’s in New York. It is estimated at $8,000-12,000. Among other Irish offerings at Style: Silver, Furniture, Ceramics at Sotheby’s New York until April 22 are a pair c1835 of William IV giltwood caned armchairs in the manner of James Del Vecchio, Dublin ($6,000-10,000) and a large 1747 silver salver by Thomas Walker, Dublin with the arms of St. Leger with Deane in pretense for St. Leger Aldworth MP. He assumed the name St. Leger on inheriting the estate of his maternal ancestors and in 1776 became Baron Doneraile of Doneraile ($15,000-20,000). A pair of silver candlesticks by John Walker is estimated at $3,000-5,000. A George IV two handled tray by John Bridge of London bears the arms of the See of Tuam, Killala and Achonry, impaling Trench for the Most Rev. Power Trench,Bishop of Tuam and brother of Richard, 2nd Earl of Clancarty. It is estimated at $12,000-18,000.
Irish George IV table with a light brown marble top. Update: This was unsold
Morgan O’Driscoll, Aidan Foley and Damien Matthews will all hold online auctions today. The biggest of the sales is the Irish and International Art auction by Morgan O’Driscoll, who has some big ticket items on offer including Celtic Cross in a west of Ireland landscape by Paul Henry (€150,000-250,000), Whik Wood by Ivon Hitchens (€60,000-90,000), Landscape with Figures by George Barret (€60,000-90,000), Altar by Damien Hirst (€17,500-25,000), Roxboro Road Bus Stop V by John Shinnors (€15,000-20,000), Spring Bogland, Ballinaboy by Kenneth Webb (€10,000-15,000); Abstract Composition by William Scott (€6,000-9,000) and three pieces by Jeff Koons, one of the most expensive living artists in the world. They are Balloon Rabbit (Red), Balloon Monkey (Blue) and Balloon Swan (Yellow). All date to 2017. They are all from numbered editions of 999 in porcelain painted with chrome and published by Bernaudaud, Limoges, France.
Day two of Aidan Foley’s sale at Sixmilebridge today will include Persian rugs, art, antique furniture and collectibles. Matthews of Oldcastle, Co. Meath will have an online sale with 390 lots of jewellery, gold, silver, watches and Oriental lots at 6.30 pm. Estimates range from €20-20,000.
Balloon Swan (Yellow) by Jeff Koons. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
This pair of c1835 Irish William IV giltwood caned armchairs in the manner of James Del Vecchio come up at Sotheby’s online sale of silver, furniture and ceramics this month. The auction runs at Sotheby’s in New York from April 10-22 and among the lots are some silver and antique furniture from Ireland.
Del Vecchio was a firm of carvers and gilders, looking glass sellers and manufacturers of composition ornament active in Dublin from 1797 to c.1860. The firm was run by Giacomo (James) Del Vecchio and his son James Jr, immigrants from Moltrasio on Lake Como in Northern Italy. They formed part of the thriving furniture trade in early 19th-century Dublin along with Mack Williams and Gibton, Robert Strahan, George Gillington and Joshua Kearney. James Del Vecchio Sr. later established an outpost of the family firm in New York. The chairs are estimated at $6,000-10,000.
This pair of Italian silver plated pheasants is the first lot in Hegarty’s timed online only auction which runs on easyliveauction.com until 8 pm on Sunday April 5. There are 80 lots of art, antiques furniture, collectibles and jewellery at reasonable estimates. The timed sale at Easy Live auctions will be operated through a bidding page as distinct from a live online sale. Bidders need to register in advance. The Bandon auctioneers say that lots won’t be dispatched until after current restrictions around movement have been lifted. The table decoration pheasants are estimated at just €40-80.
UPDATE: THEY SOLD FOR €195 AT HAMMER IN AN AUCTION THAT WAS AN OVERALL SUCCESS.
A collection of Irish Music posters from the personal library of Lyric FM DJ Lorcan Murray is to be included in Aidan Foley’s two day live internet sale from Sixmilebridge, Co. Clare on April 13 and 14. They will come up on day one of the sale along with a large collection of rare vinyl records, musical instruments and collectible musical ephemera.
The sale on April 14 will feature 40 lots of rugs including Persian handwoven carpets and runners, 60 lots of Irish art from artists including Arthur Maderson, Markey Robinson, John Butler Yeats and Annie Robinson, 100 lots of antique furniture and collectibles and 50 lots of jewellery and silver. Around 300 lots will come under the hammer on each day. The catalogue is under preparation and online bidding will be through Easy Live Auctions.
Property from the estate of Doris Day will be sold online by Julien’s Auctions in Hollywood on April 4 and 5. Here is a video preview with Martin Nolan from Doris Day’s home in Carmel by the sea. There will be no public exhibition but the sale will be on julienslive.com
UPDATE: The sale smashed the top estimate of $600,000 and brought in just over $3 million.
