THE 1916 Rising service medal awarded to Kathleen Lynn sold for a hammer price of 58,000 at Mullen’s Collector’s Cabinet sale today. It was awarded for her service to the Irish Citizen Army, City Hall Garrison and had been estimated at 20,000-30,000. Dr. Lynn gifted the medal to her cousin George Llewellyn Wynne and it was passed on by descent.
The daughter of a Co. Mayo Church of Ireland rector, her upbringing was conservatively Protestant and Unionist but, like her distant cousin Constance Markievicz, Lynn became politically radicalised through her exposure to the poverty of Dublin’s slums while she studied medicine. She became a suffragette and, influenced by the writings of James Connolly, joined the Irish Citizen Army as Chief Medical Officer. Arrested and imprisoned and was one of only six women to be deported to British jails for their part in the Rising. Following her release she was appointed vice-president of Sinn Fein and was on the run for much of the War of Independence.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for January 15, 2022)
This AA yellow enamel road sign for Rineanna is lot 140 at Mullen’s Collectors Cabinet auction online from Laurel Park in Bray on January 29. Rineanna, which means meeting place of the birds, was the site chosen in 1936 to build an airfield to replace Foynes Flying Boat Terminal. It was re-named Shannon Airport in 1942.
The Easter Rising medal awarded to Kathleen Lynn – whose Treaty debate photo alongside Constance Markievicz was published in this paper last Saturday – comes up at Mullen’s Collector’s Cabinet auction in Bray on January 29. Influenced while studying medicine by the writings of James Connolly and the poverty of the Dublin slums she joined the Irish Citizen Army as chief medical officer. Active in the Rising she was imprisoned in Britain, became vice president of Sinn Fein on her release and was on the run for much of the War of Independence. She was the driving force behind the establishment of Saint Ultan’s Children’s Hospital in 1919. The medal is estimated at €20,000-€30,000.The latest in the series of collectibles auctions at Mullen’s includes historical memorabilia, rare and antiquarian books, militaria, arms and armour, sporting memorabilia, model trains and toys.
Dr. Kathleen Lynn. UPDATE: THIS MADE 58,000 AT HAMMER
This Georgian mahogany hunt table is lot 69 at Mullen’s Classic and Contemporary Interiors online sale which ends from 6 pm on November 7. The estimate is €500-700. There are 602 lots on the catalogue and they can all be found on Easy Live Auctions.UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,550 AT HAMMER
This 1798 hand coloured etching by the British caricaturist James Gillray is of Napoleon Buonaparte hearing of Nelson’s victory at the Battle of the Nile and swearing by his sword to extirpate the English from off the Earth. It comes up as a rather timely lot 9 at the Collector’s Cabinet sale by Mullen’s of Laurel Park, Bray on September 11 with an estimate of 200-300. A number of commemorative events and auctions are being held around the globe this year to mark the bicentenary of the death of Napoleon. The online sale at Mullens offers 546 varied lots militaria, historical memorabilia, 275 lots antiquarian books and modern books including signed first editions, sporting memorabilia and more. UPDATE: THIS ETCHING MADE 340 AT HAMMER
The latest in the series of collectibles auctions at Mullen’s includes historical memorabilia, rare and antiquarian books, militaria, arms and armour and sporting memorabilia. The live and online auction, which takes place on September 11, offers a variety of collectibles from a 1913-16 Irish Volunteers captains tunic to 24 mostly signed books by the Nobel Prize winning poet Seamus Heaney. There are 55i lots in total.
AN IRISH VOLUNTEER 1913-1916 TUNIC. UPDATE: THIS MADE 4,000 AT HAMMER
There is water everywhere in William Roe’s 1837/38 views of Cork which come up as lot 17 at Mullens Collectors Cabinet online sale on September 11. Much of the city as we know it today is built on reclaimed land. The lot consists of seven framed sheets each with between two and four views of Cork city and environs. It is estimated at €2,000-€3,000. Works by Roe were displayed at the Cork Exhibition of 1852. UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,000 AT HAMMER
This poster for Ryan’s Daughter, nominated for four Academy Awards in 1970 and shot in Ireland, comes up at the Collector’s Cabinet timed online auction by Mullen’s of Laurel Park in Bray on June 13. Lot 275 is estimated at 200-300. The sale includes historical memorabilia, early maps, rare and antiquarian books, militaria, arms and armour, Irish silver, sporting memorabilia, comics, rock, pop and cinema. The catalogue is online. UPDATE: THIS MADE 280
This 1960’s lounge chair by Luigi Vietta and produced by Fratelli Besana comes up as lot 23 at Mullen’s Classic and Contemporary Interiors sale at Laurel Park, Bray, Co. Wicklow on June 7. It is estimated at 340-440. The sale of 798 lots gets underway at 6 pm.
With everything from a wonderful landscape by John Butts to suits of armour to watches designed for the space age there is plenty to interest collectors at auctions open for online browsing in Ireland over this Easter Weekend. The library collection, a timed online sale at James Adam in Dublin running to April 14, offers art, antique furniture and bookcases, old maps, miniatures, Qing Dynasty bronzes, a carved and stained birdcage modelled as a two storey house and a pair of Georgian upholstered armchairs once at Ashford Castle in a wide ranging sale of 227 lots.
John Butts (c1728-1764) – A Mountainous Wooded Landscape. UPDATE: THIS MADE 15,000 AT HAMMER
Christofle serving dishes, a Georgian style dining suite by Harrods, a bespoke silver canteen by Carrs of Sheffield, a pair of Eames chairs, sculpture and maritime art by S Francis Smitheman (1927-2016) will come under the hammer on April 7. Sean Eacrett, the Ballybrittas, Co. Laois based auctioneer will offer contents from 35 Abington, Malahide in an online sale of 383 lots.
Meantime three centuries of watches and clocks from the Age of Reason to the Age of Steam to the Space Age are on offer at a timed online evening sale by Mullens of Laurel Park, Bray on April 11. A pocket watch made in Dublin in the 1730’s by Thomas Coote, the earliest watch in the sale, is estimated at €700-€1,000. There are 12 examples of American railroad grade precision watches which came into being following an investigation into a head on collision 40 miles west of Cleveland in 1891. Nine men died when the fast mail hit the Toledo express on a single track near a siding. The investigation centred on the engineers watches, one of which was found to be four minutes slow. Space age travel with massive G forces and zero gravity presented new challenges and Max Hetzel devised the Bulova Watch Company “Accutron” win 1960, marketed as the Space Age watch. There are five of them in the sale with estimates of €80-€300.
A c1780 George III pocket watch by William Ross, Cork at Mullens
Lot 89 at Adams, A Mountainous Wooded Landscape by John Butts (c1728-1764) is estimated at €15,000-€20,000. Influenced by Claude Lorraine and Nicolas Poussin the Cork artist is regarded as one of the finest early Irish landscape painters. Among other more expensive lots is a c1780 Irish satinwood pier table (€10,000-€15,000), a giltwood and marble topped side table (€5,000-€8,000), a river landscape by the Dutch artist Albert Meyering (1645-1714) (€10,000-€15,000) and an Irish Regency serving table (€5,000-€7,000). A Victorian snooker score board by J. Thurston and Co. London has an estimate of €500-€800.
The maritime art of Francis Smitheman at Sean Eacrett’s sale is headed by three oils with estimates of €6,000-€8,000 and there are also some limited edition prints. The mahogany Harrods dining suite is estimated at €8,000-€12,000 and the silver canteen is estimated at €8,000-€10,000. There is a selection of Art Deco pieces, African sculptures from Cape Town, attractive garden furniture and some large terracotta urns.
