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More than 300 lots will come under the hammer at Woodwards in Cork on February 4.  Furniture includes a set of eight Oriental dining chairs (€600-€800), a Victorian cylinder bureau (€600-€800), an inlaid display cabinet (€400-€600), a Regency sofa table (€400-€600) and Victorian and Georgian card tables at €300-€500 and €300-€400 respectively. A large Persian rug is estimated at €600-€800 and there is a selection of side tables, library tables and tea tables.  The auction will feature a selection of porcelain from makers like Royal Doulton, Royal Worcester and Spode as well as some Waterford Crystal and art lots.  The catalogue is online.

All auctions with antique furniture offer plenty of opportunities for entry level collectors.  The sort of value to be had is underlined at Woodwards sale in Cork on September 24. A selection of Georgian, William IV, Victorian and Edwardian furniture is all available at under €500. Many of these built to last venerable old pieces would have cost more two decades ago than they do today and defy every current trend simply by getting cheaper. If auction history teaches us anything it is that antique pieces from particular eras have to survive a period of unfashionability and a tendency to break them up. The time to come back into some sort of vogue is overdue.

What is slightly puzzling is that in an era like this one when anything goes antique furniture is not at all unfashionable.  The best interiors are routinely drawn from many sources – eclectic if you like – and the stylish modern home offers huge scope for individual taste and style in furniture, art and collectibles. Even if we are about to be bled dry by energy costs and inflation we need to feather winter nests for the coming winter. Here are some examples from Woodwards with estimates in brackets:  Georgian lowboy (€300-€400);  concave cabinet (€300-€400); George II card table (€400-€500); Edwardian demi-lune card table (€300-€400);  William IV sideboard (€400-€500); Edardian twin pillar dining table (€300-€400); Edwardian sofa table (€300-€400) and a small bachelors chest (€150-€200).  The catalogue is online.

Georgian, William IV, Regency and Edwardian furniture will come up at Woodwards online sale in Cork on April 2. Highlights  in this sale of more than 300 lots include a Regency inlaid yew fitted work table (€1,500-€2,500), a George II walnut kneehole desk €1,000-€1,500) and a pair of Coalbrookdale garden benches (€1,500-€2,000). Estimates are more reasonable than would have been the case a couple of decades ago, underlining once again how vintage furniture is undervalued right now.  Here are some examples:  A George II walnut card table (€700-€1,000); Edwardian cellarette (€400-€600); William IV rosewood teapoy (€600-€1,000); three pillar d-end dining table (€500-€800); Regency gilt window seat (€400-€600); Georgian walnut bureau €400-€600); Georgian library armchair (500-€800); Edwardian bonheur du jour (€300-€400) and a Victorian walnut drop leaf table (€400-€600).

House sales are always a draw and Woodwards sale of contents from Millboro House, Lee Road, Cork on February 12 will be no exception.  The auction of 348 lots will be online and viewing gets underway at the house from today.  The auction had been previously postponed due to Covid restrictions. From a Victorian gilt overmantle to two four poster beds, antique longcase clock dials and an economy three section dining table the selection of antique furniture from Millboro House is brimful of interest.

The late consultant anaesthetist Dr. Don Coleman, who died in 2016 at the age of 94, was an avid collector.  Contents from this imposing period house include bureau bookcases, sideboards, lamps and chandeliers, tables, chairs, butlers trays, garden statuary, crystal glass, silver and all the items that emerged from the cupboards, nooks and crannies at a large family home.  There is an estimate of €2,500-€5,000 on both a Georgian inlaid cylinder bureau bookcase and the economy dining table. A Regency style mahogany breakfront sideboard, possibly made in Cork, is estimated at  €1,500-€3,000. In Georgian and Victorian times clockmakers flourished around James St. and Washington St in Cork city centre. Among the more unusual collectibles are antique longcase clock faces, three in brass and one painted.  The brass examples are by James Aickin, Cork, Mark Kirkpatrick, Dublin and “McCarthy Corke” and the painted dial is by M Shaughnessy Cork.  

Antique furniture, collectibles, rugs and art will all come up at Woodwards first sale of 2022 on January 29 in Cork.  Items from recent house sales and estates are featured in this online only auction which is now on view at Cook St. in Cork city centre subject to Covid restrictions. Georgian pieces include a walnut lowboy, an inlaid bureau and a walnut card table all estimated at €500-€800. A Regency sofa table is estimated at €800-€1,200 and chests of drawers and a d-end dining table feature as well.  There is a painting of turf stacks by Douglas Alexander (€300-€400) and collectibles include three antique bronze Chinese ceremonial longstaffs (€800-€1,500) and a Rolls Royce Spirit of Ecstasy car figure (€400-€600).  A large red ground Kashan carpet and a selection of Waterford Crystal is included too.