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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Pablo Picasso (Spanish 1881-1973) Jeune couple accroupi, l’homme avec un tambourin at Lynes and Lynes. UPDATE: THIS MADE 5,000 AT HAMMER
A marine chronometer, a Picasso etching, a c1730 bureau bookcase or a modern burr poplar and satinwood side cabinet inlaid with mother of pearl? The choice is yours at upcoming sales at James Adam in Dublin on Wednesday August 27 and Lynes and Lynes in Carrigtwohill, Co. Cork next Saturday (August 30).
The etching of a young couple by Picasso is the top lot at Lynes and Lynes. Published by Vollard in Paris in 1939 and signed in pencil from an edition of 260 it is from a private source in Cork. The estimate is €5,000-€8,000. Lynes and Lynes will offer three ships chronometers, one by Whyte Thompson and Co., makers to the admiralty, Glasgow (€900-€1,200), another by Thomas Mercer (€700-€1,000) and a third manufactured by the First Watch Company, Moscow (€300-€500).
A c1730 bureau bookcase at James Adam. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
Antique furniture is more difficult to sell nowadays. A c1730 bureau bookcase at the At Home sale at Adams might break the mould. Capable of lending grace and utility to many modern homes it comes with twin mirrored panel doors, a fall front, desk, shelves and drawers and measures just 103 cms wide. The estimate is €1,500-€3,000. By way of contrast an inlaid demi lune side cabinet by Restall Brown & Clennell at Adams is a modern piece with an estimate of €2,000-€3,000.
With nearly 900 lots in total each sale offers a wide variety of lots at affordable price points, online catalogues and in person viewing.
Marine chronometers at Lynes and Lynes. UPDATE: THESE MADE 1,300, 850 AND 260
Lynes and Lynes will include contents from the recently sold Montenotte House and lots from the estate of late surgeon Tom Burke and his wife Kay of Blackrock, Cork. There are tables to choose from including a large 19th century dining table, a Cork Regency tea table and a Georgian wine table. There are Cork 9-bar chairs and Arts and Crafts dining chairs, a Cork Regency linen press and a fine painted cabinet. The sale offers silver and jewellery, a specialist collection of antique continental dolls and old advertising signs including one for the Metropole Hotel in Cork. Viewing gets underway in Carrigtwohill today and continues all next week.
A pair of red ground 19th century Chinese silk scroll wall hangings and a George V silver epergne feature among the lots adding interest to the At Home sale by James Adam in Dublin. The auction offers silver, furniture, a longcase clock, paintings, a 19th century gilt surround continental headboard, sofas, rugs, lamps, mirrors and an Irish silver Art Deco style three piece coffee service.
A c1960 Louis Vuitton train vanity case at James Adam. UPDATE: THIS MADE 460 at hammer
Or how about a Louis Vuitton c1960 train vanity case identified as reference model M23820 (€500-€800), a 20th century Aubusson style needlepoint tapestry, an Anglo-Indian carved ebony side chair or a brass dinner gong?
Auctions like these offer endless variety and objects to suit all tastes. Go on. Be inspired….
