A rare gold and platinum bow design brooch set with 11 Colombian emerald cabochons of varying size, an estate cabinet from Clonmeen House in Banteer and a re-discovered Roderic O’Conor painting exhibited at the Salon des Independents in Paris in 1904 are among the delights at Fonsie Mealy’s Chatsworth summer fine art sale in Castlecomer on April 29, 30 and May 1.
More than 1,300 lots will come under the hammer, including contents from Clonbrock House, Galway, items once at Castletown and objects from other stately homes in Ireland. There is Georgian and Regency furniture from a commission by Gillows in London for Lord Clonbrock, luxury fashion and jewellery, Irish and international art and a variety of collectibles. An estate cabinet from Clonmeen with numerous pigeon holes was in the collection of Major Stephen Grehan (1895-1972). He fought at the Western Front and at Salonica during World War I and later in Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq). The sale feature more than 450 furniture lots including Gillows furniture from Clonbrock and Castletown. An early rosewood sofa table by Gillows of London and Lancaster dates to around 1801 – the time of the Clonbrock commission – and is estimated at just €1,000-€1,500.
Lot 249 is an Irish 19th century gold cased pocket watch by John Donegan, Dublin and the sale offers a collection of Irish silverware. The auction is on view in Castlecomer from 1.30 pm to 5 pm on April 26 and from 10.30 am to 5 pm on April 27 and 28. The catalogue is online.
An Irish George III estate cabinet from Clonmeen House, Banteer
Roderic O’Conor (1860-1940) – Chrysanthemums and Christmas Roses, 1897
This oil on canvas by Roderic O’Conor is, at €80,000-€100,000, the most expensively estimated lot at Fonsie Mealy’s Chatsworth summer fine art sale in Castlecomer on April 29 and 30 and May 1. It has re-emerged on the market after many decades in a private collection. Painted in 1897 Chyrsanthemums and Christmas Roses was shown in Paris in 1904 in the Salon des Independents. More than 1,300 lots will come under the hammer at three days of sales. The catalogue is online and viewing gets underway in Castlecomer on Apirl 26.
Irish Georgian mahogany serving table, possibly Cork. UPDATE: THIS MADE €360 AT HAMMER
With everything from a 1963 Morris Minor and a 19th century decorated hand painted Sicilian cart to a 19th century inlaid boulle credenza and a Irish Georgian mahogany serving table possibly made in Cork Fonsie Mealy’s Making Room sale in Castlecomer on February 4 and 5 has lots to interest collectors of every hue.
More than 840 lots of antique furniture, paintings, decorative arts and collectibles will come under the hammer. Estimates are reasonable and all lots are to be sold.
There will be Cork interest in a retro wooden mantel clock presented to solicitor John Rearden in September 1950. A small plaque on the Edwardian mahogany clock records that it was presented by the Cork Employers Federation Ltd. “In token of their appreciation of his 42 years service as Secretary”. The lot, complete with a photograph of the presentation, is estimated at €180-€220. An inlaid wall clock by Hilsers of the Grand Parade has an estimate of €120-€180.
Given that it is reckoned that you could travel around central London in a horse drawn carriage in the old days more quickly than by fast car nowadays the contrasting options of a 19th century pony trap (€800-€1,200) and the four cylinder Morris Minor (€3,000-€4,000) are of interest. The car was owned by the Odlum family of Portarlington. The Sicilian cart, with spoked and iron clad wheels, has an estimate of €400-€600.
Tables, chairs, chests, Oriental screens, display cabinets, paintings, rugs and a converted 18th century spinet, an early 20th century carved wooden hobby horse, a Cork Mansion House service plate, a pair of Dresden bowls and three pieces of Copeland to be sold as one lot and all sorts collectibles vie for attention in an auction where the offerings are comprehensive. Ebony string inlay marks an Irish Georgian serving table as a possible Cork piece. The estimate is a mere €400-€500. The catalogue is online and the sale is on view in Castlecomer on February 3.
A pair of Dresden floral bowls, a Copeland dish and two matching plates. UPDATE: THIS LOT MADE €140 AT HAMMER
A pair of 19th century Japanese censers. UPDATE: THESE MADE €150 at hammer
Viewing gets underway in Castlecomer today for Fonsie Mealy’s Making Room sale which will take place over two days on February 4 and 5. There are 633 lots in total including this pair of 19th century bronze Japanese censers of elephant form with pagodas. They are each 13 inches in height and the estimate is €250-€350, The catalogue is online.
Michael Angelo Hayes (1820-1877) – The Kildare Hunt 1858. UPDATE: THIS MADE 50,000 AT HAMMER
An 1858 painting of the Kildare Hunt by Michael Angelo Hayes will lead Fonsie Mealy’s winter fine art and antique sale in Castlecomer on December 3 and 4. Estimated at €40,000-€60,000 it is part of a range of items celebrating our equestrian heritage including the Tralee Races Cup, the Blennerhassett Plate and the Kilkenny Hunt Cup.
The Hayes painting is a large group portrait outside Bishopscourt House near Straffan, Co. Kildare. It depicts the Earl of Clonmel, Lord Cloncurry, the Marquis of Drogheda, Thomas Connolly, Captain Colthurst, Sir John Power and many more identifiable figures.
More than 1,000 lots of antique furniture, art and collectibles are to be auctioned. There is a Faberge link gold bracelet, a selection of gold coins, a 19th century dining table on four pods, a Peel P50 one person commuter car from the early 1960’s, a 1963 Morris Minor, a pair of French Empire four branch candelabra, a specimen marble table and a silver ladle by Samuel Johns, Limerick among the leading lots. The catalogue is online.
A vintage Peel P50 one person commuter car. UPDATE: THIS MADE 8,000 AT HAMMER
This 18th century scribal manuscript made €35,000 at hammer at Fonsie Mealy.
An original copy of the 1916 Proclamation was the top lot at Fonsie Mealy’s two day sale on October 1 and 2. It made €90,000 at hammer. Other top hammer prices were €35,000 for an 18th century scribal copy of Keating’s History of Ireland for Edward Denny and €18,000 for a collection of working papers for Seamus Heaney’s poem Remembering Malibu. The programme for the 1913 All Ireland hurling final at Jones Road made €11,000, a match ticket for the Bloody Sunday match at Croke Park in 1920 made €9,000 and a 1924 All Ireland hurling medal made €6,000. A collection of documents relating to the Sinn Fein bank of 1908-1924 made €7,500 and a c1599 rare first state Boazio map of Ireland made €6,000. The sale made more than €5,000 on the hammer.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for September 27, 2025)
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
A very fine pair of enormous fossilized Irish Elk Horns and Skull, the horns with 14 points and spanning 98″ made a hammer price of €40,000 at Fonsie Mealy’s Chatsworth summer fine art sale in Castlecomer today. Oscar Wilde’s desk made €29,000, a second specimen Irish elk horns made €28,000, a pair of large early 19th century terrestrial and celestial globes by John and William Newton, London, 1818 made €15,000, a French bateau bed owned by Oscar Wilde made €15,000, a Louis XV Cartel clock and barometer set made €12,000 and a bronze of The Cossacks Crossing the Balkans by Evgeny Alexandrovich Lanceray made €9,000.
(See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for June 14 and June 9, 2025)
A 19th century French gold brocade royal blue carriage bag owned by Queen Maria Amelia, the last Queen of France. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,200 AT HAMMER
With a range that spans everything from fossilised Irish elk horns to Oscar Wilde’s desk, a landscape attributed to John Butts and a handbag owned by the last Queen of France heritage, history, beauty and rarity are not in short supply at Fonsie Mealy’s summer fine art and antique sale in Castlecomer on June 18 and 19.
Among many highlights are a pair of 19th century terrestrial and celestial globes on stands by John and William Newton, London 1818 (€15,000-€20,000), a Louis XV clock and matching barometer by Julian Le Roy, Paris (1686-1759) (€10,000-€15,000), a bronze of The Cossacks Crossing the Balkans by Evgeny Alexandrovich Lanceray (1848-1886) (€10,000-€15,000), a collection of 19th and early 20th century erotic Indian miniatures (€7,000-€10,000) and a four fold screen The Star of Bethlehem after Edward Burne-Jones (€4,000-€6,000).
Lots like these do not come cheap but this sale of fine art, antique furniture, silver, miniatures, decorative objects and religious artefacts sourced from private estates and collectors across Ireland offers a diverse collection to suit every taste and budget. Estimates are from €30 and €40 up for lots including a figure of Buddha and carved ebony elephants (€60-€80), a pair of Birmingham silver pillar candlesticks (€100-€150) and an Edwardian dinner gong with horn supports (€80-€120). More than 1,000 lots will come under the hammer.
The Irish giltwood side table and mirror by Arthur Jones, featured here last Saturday, is at €15,000-€20,000 among the most expensively estimated items.
The oversized slope front desk used by Oscar Wilde with, inset, a photo of the author, poet and playwright. UPDATE: THIS MADE 29,000 AT HAMMER
Fishermen by a River at Sunset attributed to John Butts (c1728-1765). UPDATE: THIS MADE 4,000 AT HAMMER
There will be literary interest in a large William IV slope top davenport attributed to Gillows with provenance to Oscar Wilde (€6,000-€8,000). Like many items at Wilde’s house at Tite St. in Chelsea it was quietly removed by friends who offered financial support and safeguarding of personal items before the court ordered auction of his possessions after his trial and imprisonment in 1895. The artist Mortimer Menpes, godfather to Wilde’s son Vyvyan, took this desk and a French bateau bed exhibited at the Paris World Fair in 1878. The bed, also in this sale, is estimated at €3,000-€4,000.
A c1740 oil on canvas of Fishermen on a River at Sunset is attributed to John Butts (€4,000-€6,000), the artist who started his career in Cork and was influenced by Claude Lorrain and Salvator Rosa. In a catalogue note Dr. Peter Murray explains that the attribution of this Claudean landscape to Butts is based both on the subject matter and the style of painting.
A 19th century French royal blue gold brocade carriage bag with coronet and trestle design was owned by the French Queen, Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily (1782-1866) who was married to Louis Philippe I. Maria Amalia, niece of Marie-Antoinette, was the last Queen of France. Gifted to the Ursuline sisters it comes to the auction by direct descent and is estimated at €800-€1,000.
A fine specimen of the elk horns and skull of the Gigantic Irish Deer with 14 points and spanning 98 inches is reputed to have been found in the Bog of Allen. It is estimated at €10,000-€15,000. Viewing for this brimful of interest and treasure filled sale gets underway in Castlecomer tomorrow at 1.30 pm and the catalogue is online.
An 18th century Louis XV Cartel clock and matching barometer by Julian Le Roy. UPDATE: THESE MADE 12,000 AT HAMMER
This Irish giltwood side table and mirror by the renowned Arthur Jones cabinetmakers was shown at the Irish Industrial Exhibition in Dublin in 1853. Known as The Table of Ireland it features motifs like a harp, carved masks, shamrocks, an Irish high tower and a medieval town house. Oak leaves, acorns and a saintly figure playing a harp are in sharp contrast to a warrior about to draw his sword. Together they depict the dual forces of peace and war in Ireland’s storied history as seen in Victorian times. The mirror is crested by a figure of Hibernia sat on a sword in front of a Celtic high cross. The table is one of the highlights at Fonsie Mealy’s summer fine art and antiques sale in Castlecomer on June 18 and 19. The estimate for lot 809 is €15,000-€20,000.
