The National Antiques Fair at Limerick Racecourse next weekend is not set up as some sort of antidote to the Eurovision Song Contest – Ireland’s entry is due to be chosen on the Late Late next Friday evening – but it most definitely promises all kinds of everything. The way we lived, the music we listened to, the way we wore, the way we dined, and all sorts of half forgotten objects that used to accompany our everyday lives will be displayed here in abundance.
The younger moneyed crowd, keen to add to their collections of art or carats, will have their eye on expensive artworks by luminaries like Mary Swanzy or Kenneth Webb or set out to browse among the jewellery dealers, oldies like me will see things to bring us back…. Back to a time when the word brunch was unknown and when it was not unusual to get breakfast underway with half a grapefruit in a glass bowl along with a shaped spoon and a serrated silver knife designed to segment it, adorned perhaps with half a red cherry. If you feel a pang of nostalgia for those days then dealer Edwin Mercer has just the thing. He will bring a boxed grapefruit set, dated to 1927, with cut crystal dishes, two Sheffield silver spoons and serrated knife in a box set retailed by D. Stewart, Jewllery, Stirling.
A limited edition photo of Paul, Ringo and John by model and photographer Pattie Boyd, married sequentially both to George Harrison and Eric Clapton, will be of interest to Beatles fans. Art by Mary Swanzy does not turn up at fairs every day but dealer Conal Meyler from Inch will bring an unframed oil on paper. He deals mostly in 17th and 18th century Chinese porcelain and effects and is a relative newcomer to the fairs. A large fair like this one is dynamic and in an era when so many antique shops have vanished a number of new dealers are emerging. There will be more than 80 shops, dealers and galleries present and nine of them are making a first appearance.Fair organiser Robin O’Donnell of Hibernian Antique Fairs will bring a late 18th century Irish coromandel wood campaign chest. He describes it as the best example of a military campaign chest that he has come across in 40 years in the antiques business. It is complete with carrying handles and a fully fitted bureau.With dealers from all over the country this two day fair will run from 11 am to 6 pm on January 27 and 28. If the idea of a stroll into Aladdin’s Cave floats your boat then this promises to be a not to be missed show.
