Meet the most expensive guitar ever sold. David Gilmour’s 1969 Fender Stratocaster – nicknamed the “Black Strat” – was played on all six of Pink Floyd’s albums between 1970 and 1983. Among them were The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here and The Wall. It made $14.6 million (€12.73 million) at Christie’s auction of the Jim Irsay Collection in New York where 44 lots made 373% times the low estimate. The auction brought in $84 million (€73.25 million). A piano owned by John Lennon made $3.2 million (€2.79 million). The previous record for a guitar was Kurt Cobain’s 1959 Martin D-18E played during Nivana’s legendary MTV unplugged performance in 1993 which sold for $6 million (€5.23 million) in 2020.
Arabella Bishop, Ireland Director at Sotheby’s for many years, has set up as an independent art advisor. With an unrivalled set of experience bringing prime lots to the national and international market she offers extensive expertise across the complexities of the art market. The service is available through www.arabellabishop.com where help with negotiating the best terms and securing optimum deals for clients across all categories is readily available.
The concept of a vampire being long in the tooth is a seductive one but 145 year old Louis de Pointe du Lac is not just any old vampire. The fans of this successful tv icon can hardly contain themselves over an Irish auction which draws to a close from 6 pm tomorrow on February 15.
Gothic Horror, vampire chic, a Louisiana setting and no less than 14 coffins from a fiver up feature in the timed online sale by Sean Eacrett at Ballybrittas, Co. Laois.
A boxed and cased pair of Versace sunglasses.
His latest auction of film paraphernalia is for AMC, the American cable channel. It is described as a prop auction from film and tv shows. Mr Eacrett is precluded from even mentioning Interview with the Vampire, the show that propelled the aforementioned Louis, his vampire lover Lestat de Lioncourt and Lestat’s daughter Claudia to stardom.
But there is no disguising it. The tiniest bit of laptop sleuthing reveals all. Available lots feature the Versace sunglasses worn by Louis, Lestat’s coffin, Claudia’s diary, Lestat’s business cards, Louisiana number plates, copies of The Times-Picayune and all sorts of props used by the characters in the series. The cybersphere is agog. “I need these like oxygen” wrote one breathless fan on Reddit.
Interview with the Vampire is based on the life story of Louis, an affluent black man and brothel owner in New Orleans in the 1910’s as told to veteran journalist Daniel Molloy in Dubai in 2022. He had previously given Molloy an unpublished interview in 1973. It explores New Orleans and surrounding plantation life in the 18th and 19th centuries. The story, based on The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice, premiered in October 2022 with two seasons. There was a third in 2024 and there will be a fourth season later this year.
A Times-Picayune dated July 30, 1919
One of the most expensively estimated lots, at €200-€400, is a very large black lacquered high gloss dining table from a Netflix series. A very large oil on canvas of the Dubai skyline is estimated at just €100-€200, as is an L shaped corner sofa, a faux fireplace from Lestat’s house in New Orleans and a silvered six branch chandelier. Most estimates are lower than this. A group of haberdashery hat boxes is among a number of items with estimates of €20-€40. A quantity of water canisters is estimated at €10-€20, as is a group of four heavy timber theatre prop eyes and plenty of other items.
This is a fun sale of 684 lots from an auctioneer who has previously sold props for TV series like Badlands, The Vikings, Game of Thrones. For this auction an undead and decidedly cheerful Sean Eacrett has made a must see 27 second long Tik Tok video of himself emerging from a coffin and donning a pair of sunglasses. Every vampire hates the light. There will be fees of course, but based on low enough hammer prices. Since when are vampires supposed to be nice….
Gold freedom boxes from Cork, Dublin, Waterford, Clonmel, Drogheda, Castlebar, Kilkenny and Trinity College Dublin are among the latest rarities donated to the Waterford Treasures Museum, holder of the greatest collection of gold and silver freedom boxes in the world. They were given by leading Irish arts philanthropists Noel and Stephanie Frisby, who donated silver, paintings and furniture valued at €4.8 million to Waterford in 2024. The Irish Silver Museum in Waterford – now in the process of cataloguing the Frisby freedom box collection – holds 26 gold freedom boxes from a growing collection of more than 60 gold and silver freedom boxes. To add context to this the National Museum of Ireland holds 35 freedom boxes and only seven are made of gold. The largest collection of Irish silver outside Ireland is at the San Antonio Museum of Art in Texas. They hold 22 freedom boxes in total, just two of them are gold. Pictured with some of the gold freedom boxes are Keeper Rosemary Ryan, Stephanie and Noel Frisby, Waterford Mayor Cllr. Séamus Ryan and Head Curator Cliona Purcell.
Classic Ford sign among the automobilia collectibles. UPDATE: THIS MADE €840 AT HAMMER
Collectibles are a major up a coming category in Ireland and there will be plenty to choose from at three days of sales by Aidan Foley in Doneraile on the evenings of February 2, 3 and 4. The online sale on Tuesday evening features two lifetime collections of automobilia with 277 lots in total including dealership signs, enamel signs, oil cans, banners and petrol globes. An oval Esso forecourt sign and a Munster Simms Oil cabinet are of particular interest. Mondays sale offers antique furniture, jewellery and art by Ivan Sutton, Graham Knuttel, Marie Carroll and others. There will be 150 lots pub memorabilia on offer on Wednesday. The catalogue is online.
A photo of Thomas Wall, aged 16, from the exhibition of prisoners photographs of Kilmainham Gaol in 1921. Wall was killed during the Civil War in 1922.
An exhibition of secret photographs taken by prisoner’s in in 1921 during the War of Independence is at Kilmainham Gaol Museum until October 26 next. With smuggled cameras prisoners recorded everyday life. Photos show boxing matches, Irish language classes, religious services and drama productions. Other show men enjoying the sunshine in south facing yards, cooking food and playing with two dogs. The prisoners were released on December 8, 1921 following the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. The exhibition is organised by the OPW.
Arnout Tholinx, Inspector (circa 1656) made £3.1 million in December, a new world record for a Rembrandt print.
With projected global sales of $6.2 billion in 2025 Christie’s is ending the year on a high note. Auction sales accounted for $4.7 billion (up 8%), private sales for $1.5 billion according to figures released today by Christie’s. No less than 17 works sold privately for more that $15 million and the top three works sold by Christie’s this year were sold privately.
“The energy has returned to the saleroom, online, and across the market. We’ve seen renewed confidence worldwide, reflected in these outstanding results. Our selling performance has remained consistently strong throughout the year: a solid first half followed by an even more competitive second half, delivering exceptional, market-leading outcomes for our clients” said Bonnie Brennan, Christie’s ceo.
The Americas amounted for 41% of sales, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) 36% and Asia Pacific for 23%.
A c1900 enamel, sapphire and rose quartz brooch by Carlo and Arthur Giuliano at O’Reilly’s of Francis St., Dublin. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
Jewellery and books make acceptable Christmas presents so two sales on December 10 have potential to offer inspiration at across the board price points. Estimates at O’Reilly’s of Francis St., Dublin – who will offer 511 lots at a live and online sale – range from €25-€80 for a collection of costume jewellery, an Irish sterling silver signet ring and an Egyptian revival pill box to €42,000-€52,000 for a round cut diamond solitaire of 5.35 carats and €34,000-€40,000 for a diamond line bracelet with radiant cut stones. The selection in between these figures ranges from rings, necklaces and brooches to watches, earrings and a 1947 Mexican 50 peso gold coin.
More than 600 lots, from limited, rare and signed first editions to Marvel comics and works of sporting and antiquarian interest, will come under the hammer at Purcell Auctioneers in Birr. The sale will be led by a 1920 book of Irish Fairy Tales by James Stephens with illustrations by Arthur Rackham (€1,750-€2,250). A rare catalogue from the May 1939 sale of 2,711 lots from Ashford Castle by Jackson, Stops and McCabe (€200-€300), a programme from Ireland’s Grand Slam winning match against Wales on March 13, 1948 (€350-€600), Marvel’s Amazing Spiderman from 1984 featuring the first appearance of his black suit (€300-€400) and a signed first edition of Normal People by Sally Rooney (€200-€250) are among the highly collectible lots.
The programme for Ireland’s 1948 Grand Slam winning rugby match at Purcell Auctioneers in Birr. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
William Harvey’s Exercitatio anatomica de motu cordis et sanguinis in animalibus, 1628 Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2025. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £1,016,000
The groundbreaking first description of blood circulation, William Harvey’s 1628 Exercitatio anatomica de motu dordis et sanguinis in animalibus, is a highlight at Christie’s books, manuscripts and photographs sale in London on December 10. The sale will include a selection of 100 books, manuscripts and photographs from the library of the Royal Society of Medicine, featuring some of the most important names and breakthroughs ever made. The Harvey book is estimated at £800,000-£1.2 million (€913,120-€1.37 million). A first edition Essay on the Shaking Palsy by James Parkinson, published in 1817, is estimated at £50,000-£70,000 (€57,070-€79,900). UPDATE: THE PARKINSON BOOK MADE £101,600.
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.
