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.
Dawn at the Forty Foot by Olivier Demé at Art Source
Art Source, Ireland’s largest art fair, is at the RDS from November 14-16. It offers a selection of affordable art and a range of pieces from artists like Tracey Emin and Andy Warhol. The event will feature the Irish debut of Fonderia Artistica Ruocco – a foundry from Naples, Italy. And spray-paint artist Hernán González and mural artist SOLUS will bring Dublin street art to the RDS.
A SMALL GILT ENAMEL CLOISONNE ‘TAOTIE’ MASK VASE AND COVER, MARKED QIANLONG
This mid Qing Dynasty gilt mask vase and cover made a hammer price of €24,000 at the James Adam sale of Fine Asian Art in Dublin today. Measuring just 8.8 centimetres high and weighing 87 grams it had been estimated at €1,500-€1,800 and the final hammer price is more than 13 times the top estimate. A taotie is an ancient Chinese mythological creature. A pair of 20th century carved cinnabar lacquer vases made €15,000 at hammer over a top estimate of €1,500 and a blue and white porcelain Korean storage jar made €16,000 over a top estimate of €5,000.
GERRIT DOU (LEIDEN 1613-1675) – The Flute Player UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £3,832,000 (€4,353,152).
With an estimate of £2-£3 million The Flute Player by Gerrit Dou will lead Christie’s Old Masters sale in London on December 2. Dou, like his teacher Rembrandt, was among the most successful Dutch artists of the seventeenth century, attracting patrons such as Cosimo III de’ Medici, and with works presented to Charles II of England. An early masterpiece from his relatively small and highly sought-after oeuvre, this vanitas – a still-life charged with symbolic meaning – alludes to music, learning and the brevity of life. Painted with microscopic detail and an enamel-like finish that conceals all trace of the brush, it exemplifies the extraordinary technical precision that made Dou one of the most acclaimed painters of his age. The picture has been in a celebrated English collection for 125 years, having belonged to William Proby, 5th Earl of Carysfort (1836–1909) at Elton Hall by 1900. It has remained in the family since.
Christie’s achieved the world auction record for Gerrit Dou in 2023 with A young woman holding a hare with a boy at a window, which achieved $7 million in theRothschild Masterpieces sale.
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.
The Lark Sings High, an oil on board by Jack B Yeats, at Bonhams. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £95,650
The Lark Sings High by Jack B Yeats is at Bonhams Modern British and Irish art sale in London on November 19. Measuring 9 x 14 inches it is from a private collection in the UK. The estimate is £50,000-£70,000 (€57,000-€80,000).
An unusually large scale model of a steam traction engine. (€2,000-€3,000). UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,200 AT HAMMER
The enduring fascination of railways in days gone by never leaves. The single owner collection of Lord O’Neill of Shane’s Castle, Co. Antrim, former President of the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland (and a stepson of Bond creator Ian Fleming), at Mullen’s of Laurel Park in Bray on November 10 is of huge interest to railwayana collectors.
There are train nameplates, headboards, railway hotel items, original enamel advertisements, paintings commissioned by Lord O’Neill of locomotives and travel posters including highly collectible ones designed by Paul Henry, banknotes and coins. An unusually large scale model of a steam traction engine, the Maid of Erin, is of great interest along with a good selection of model trains and transport items.
His railway and transport library features rare and unusual books, maps and pamphlets. Among them is Richard Griffiths’ c1855 map of Ireland made to accompany the report of the Railway Commissioners with hand coloured plates. The live auction with online bidding gets underway next Monday at 11 am. The catalogue is online and the sale is on view at Mullen’s this weekend.
The Shamrock, a train headboard (€2,000-€3,000). UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,100 AT HAMMER
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
AN exhibition entitled These Walls: Landmarks + Rising Conversations opens today at the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin and runs until January 6. The exhibition, in partnership with Dublin Gallery Weekend which continues until November 9, revisits a pivotal chapter in Irish art history: the ROSC exhibitions of 1984 and 1988, held at the Guinness Hopstore.
