SAPPHIRE AND DIAMOND RING, FIRST QUARTER OF THE 20TH CENTURY SOLD FOR €280,000 AT HAMMER
This cushion-shaped Kashmir sapphire weighing 5.08cts made a hammer price of €280,000 at Adam’s sale of fine jewellery and ladies watches in Dublin this evening. With French assay marks and signed Boucheron Paris it was accompanied by a Swiss report authenticatings its Kashmir origin with no indications of heating. The ring was acquired circa 1930’s in Paris by a member of the Guerlain family of perfume fame and has remained with the family by descent.
A Kashmir sapphire and diamond ring by Boucheron will lead a sale of fine jewellery and ladies watches at Adam’s in Dublin on December 4. The sapphire weighs 5.08 carats and the ring is estimated at €100,000-€150,000 but it might be advisable to break out the piggy bank if you really, really want it. So far this year Adam’s sold a Kashmir diamond and sapphire ring for €540,000 at hammer, an early 20th century Kashmir sapphire brooch for €540,000 and a c1900 Kashmir sapphire and diamond brooch for €550,000. This one dates to the first quarter of the 20th century and was acquired in the 1930’s by the Guerlain family of perfume fame in Paris.
INCUNABULA: The Nuremberg Chronicle by Anton Koberger, 1493 SOLD FOR €35,000 at hammer
One of the most important German incunables (a book printed before 1501) and the most extensively illustrated book of the 15th century made a hammer price of €35,000 at Purcell Auctioneers in Birr today. The Nuremberg Chronicle by Anton Koberger dates to 1493, the very first edition Latin in Gothic Rotunda type. A Pictorial History of the World, the Nuremberg Chronicle was written over several years by the doctor and book collector, Hartmann Schedel, who was commissioned by two Nuremberg merchants. It was originally published in Latin in an edition of around 1400-1500. The Chronicle also incorporates geographical and historical information on European countries and towns. The narrative is divided into 11 parts – the so-called world ages, and is profusely illustrated by images of biblical and historical events, and topographical views of towns and countries in Europe and the Middle East, including Jerusalem and Byzantium. It contains the bookplate of The Right Honourable Robert Henry Meade 1879 (Meade GCB, was the second son of the 3rd Earl of Clanwilliam and Lady Elizabeth Herbert. Clanwilliam, an Irish peer, had served as Private Secretary to Lord Castlereagh and subsequently as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.).
This old mine cut diamond brooch owned by Emperor Napoleon I (c1810) sold for US $4.4 million at Sotheby’s Royal and Noble jewels sale in Geneva after a bidding battle that lasted nearly ten minutes. The estimate was $150,000-$250,000. Most likely created to adorn his bicorne hat on special occasions it centres on a large oval diamond of 13.04 carats surrounded by two rows of diamonds of varying shapes and sizes. In his haste to flee Waterloo Napoleon had to abandon some of his carriages when they got stuck on a muddy road a few miles from the battlefield. One of them contained precious personal belongings including weapons, medals, silverware, a hat and a jewellery box. The brooch was offered to the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III on June 21, 1815, three days after the battle. It remained in the House of Hohenzollern for many years and has been part of different private collections since.
A gold pocket watch recovered from the body of one of the richest passengers on the Titanic is could make £1 million at auction at Aldridges in Wiltshire on November 22. Isidor Straus and his wife Ida were among the more than 1,500 people who died in the disaster in April 1912. An 18 carat gold Jules Jurgensen pocket watch was recovered from his body in the Atlantic. Ida’s body was never found. The Bavarian-born American businessman and politician was co-owner of Macy’s department store in New York.
The pocket watch stopped at 02:20, the moment the Titanic disappeared beneath the waves. It is believed to have been a gift from Ida to her husband in 1888 and is engraved with Straus’ initials. Returned to his family it was passed down through generations before Kenneth Hollister Straus, Isidor’s great-grandson, had the movement repaired and restored. It will be sold alongside a rare letter Ida wrote aboard the liner describing its luxury which was posted in Ireland at Queenstown (Cobh). The letter is estimated at £100,000-£150,000, the watch at £800,000-£1 million.
Spike, Caenagnathid dinosaur, Late Cretaceous (c. 68 million years ago). (£3,000,000–5,000,000).
Spike an exceptionally preserved dinosaur and one of the most complete Caenagnathid specimens ever discovered will headline Christie’s inauguralGroundbreakers: Icons of Our Time auction in London on December 11. A discovery from the 2022 field season Spike, comprises approximately 100 preserved fossil bones that tell the story of a sub-adult dinosaur that is 68 million years in the making. It has recently been determined that this family of dinosaurs were heavily feathered, and a rare marking on Spike’s wrist might be further evidence of this. Since the first Caenagnathid was published in 1940, only a handful of comparable specimens have been discovered – and none have ever come to auction.
This sale presents a curated selection of 30 lots spanning natural history, cinema, music, literature, fashion, and technology. Highlights range from personal letters by cultural icons, to rare scientific artifacts, historic musical instruments, and pioneering design pieces.
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
Sotheby’s new galleries inside the legendary Breuer building on Madison Avenue will open this weekend in New York. Longtime admirers of the Breuer which opened in 1966 as the original Whitney Museum will find lead architects Herzog & de Meuron have preserved everything that makes the building glorious. The lobby lights, the bluestone floors, the bush-hammered concrete walls, the trapezoidal windows – they’re all there, revitalised.
Exhibitions are free and open to the public. Sotheby’s will unveil the stunning art coming up in the New York Sales which will run from November 18-21 with the Leonard Lauder collection leading the way with a trio of masterworks by Klimt. The Breuer opening will culminate a banner year for Sotheby’s which has just completed the best third quarter in its 281-year history. Recent art sales in London and Paris totalled over $325m, with a 95% sell through rate and 74% of lots selling above the high estimate.
Designed by Dublin based Heneghan Peng architects so that the visitor moves through a sequence of spaces to gradually transition from the contemporary world back into the world of the Pharaohs the Grand Egyptian Museum opens fully in Cairo on November 4. The world’s largest archaeological museum is packed with some 100,000 artefacts covering some seven millennia of the country’s history from pre-dynastic times to the Greek and Roman eras. It displays the entire contents of the intact tomb of the boy king Tutankhamun, with its spectacular gold mask, throne and chariots shown together for the first time since its discovery by British Egyptologist Howard Carter. The vast museum complex – about the size of 70 football pitches – is expected to attract up to eight million visitors a year, giving a huge boost to Egyptian tourism. The grand staircase culminates with a view of the pyramids and allows visitors to navigate the museum. Located near the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza at the edge of the desert plateau between the pyramids and Cairo the exterior is covered in hieroglyphs and translucent alabaster cut into triangles with a pyramid shaped entrance.
This History of the Life of James Duke of Ormonde (1610-1688) by Thomas Carte is at Hegarty’s online sale in Bandon on November 5. James Butler, Duke of Ormonde was an important Irish statesmen and soldier, the 12th Earl and 1st Duke of Ormond known as the ‘Great Earl’. Butle was born at Clerkenwell, London, in 1610, in the house of his grandfather, Sir John Poyntz. His parents returned to Ireland shortly after his birth. He succeeded to the earldom in 1633 and was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland six times. He arranged a cease fire with Irish rebels in 1643 and offered a treaty in 1646 which granted religious tolerance to Catholics. He fought for the king in the senate and the field until 1650, when he retired to France. He played an important role in the restoration of Charles II and was afterwards created Marquis and Duke by him. He retired to Dorset and died there in 1688. The two volume set was published in London in 1736 it was printed for J. J. and P. Knapton; G. Strahan; W. Innys and R. Manby; F. Giles; and T. Wotton. It is estimated at €200-€400.
