Ireland

The 2001 Irish heritage laws are again being tested after a local council announced its intent to stop the sale of an 18th century fireplace on the grounds that – although not fitted in the property until the early 1970s – it is now an essential feature of the house.

Sara Kenny, a former director of the fine art department at Hamilton Osbourne King, is to conduct her first major sale since the Dublin property giants pulled out of the auction business in August last year.

“It is indeed a lovely spot of earth, lonely and secluded; the wood full of game, the lake full of fish, and nature full of poetry.” Luggala, as so eloquently observed by Hermann, Prince von Pückler-Muskau after a visit in 1828, is one of the most beautiful private estates in Ireland.

The ownership of this c.1760 Irish mahogany side table was traced by the late Sir Charles Brett, a prominent Ulster attorney and leading Irish historian, to his descendent Charles Brett of Belfast (1752-1829). He was a wine merchant in Belfast and Bordeaux in the 1780s and his many business concerns included interests in the Belfast Glass Works, Distillery, Chamber of Commerce and Shipping.

...and I’ll fight it in the courts if I have to

Strengthening their position as Ireland’s largest auction house, James Adam & Sons have been assigned the fine art business of major Dublin rival and property giant Hamilton Osborne King.

Unusually large at 2ft 2in (66cm) high x 21in (53cm) in diameter and notable for its carved scallop shell intaglio, this outstanding George III mahogany and brass bound peat bucket shot to €145,000 (£106,600) at James Adam of Dublin on March 15.

“FAIRS here are not as big by any means as those in the UK. The biggest regular fairs would have between 30 and 45 dealers and even the annual equivalent of a LAPADA fair would only have about 40 dealers or so.”

THE highlight of a Gerald and Sheila Goldberg collection of predominately Irish decorative arts sold by Mealy’s in Douglas, Cork earlier this month was this finely-preserved Aubusson tapestry, right, designed by Louis le Brocquy (b.1916).

THE Dowager Lady Langham, who authorised the HOK (18.5% buyer's premium) sale of the Langham family’s collections on September 27, is a world authority on Belleek having been collector/dealer for many years and having written three books on the subject. At the sale she only parted company with nine pieces of the Fermanagh pottery, most of which sold above expectations.

POLICE have alerted dealers across Ireland to a cache of antiques stolen in a weekend raid at the home of Lord Henry Mountcharles on his Slane Castle estate in County Meath.

This rare silk and bullion embroidered doll’s or child’s dress from the first half of the 18th century will be offered at auction on September 27.

THIS 18th century embroidered and appliqué yellow felt horse blanket, right, emblazoned with the arms of the Tighe family and their motto Summum Nec Metuam Diem Nec Optem (Let me neither fear nor wish for the last day), was an evocative reminder of 18th century Dublin pageantry.

BIDDING was noticeably selective at Adam's (15/12.5% buyer's premium) May 19 outing, with an unusually high unsold rate by lot and relatively little to tempt buyers in the pictures, silver and ceramics sections. Furniture, and particularly Irish furniture, was a different matter, with wealthy Irish private buyers battling with both the home and London trade for a handful of high-quality pieces, coming fresh to market from different local sources.

A POSTCARD sent by Joyce to the publisher Elkin Mathews sold for €12,000 (£8170) in a May 18 sale held by Mealy’s in Dublin.

CONTENTS from one of Galway’s best-known properties will be sold at an unusual auction later this month.

There was high excitement at the Cork rooms of Joseph Woodward & Sons (15% buyer’s premium) on February 11 when what was thought to be the earliest surviving painted view of Cork harbour fetched what is known to be the highest auction price ever paid for a painting in the city.

The news earlier this year that Lissadell House and its 400-acre estate in Co. Sligo was on the market for the first time since its completion in the 1830s led to immediate calls to save the country seat of the Gore-Booth family for the Irish people.

FOLLOWING an evening charity opening this Wednesday the 38th Irish Antique Dealers Fair runs in the main hall of the Royal Dublin Society, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 from October 2 to 5.

Online auctioneer eBay will create up to 800 new jobs in Dublin as they expand their European operations. The San Francisco-based company will locate the European headquarters for their PayPal Internet payment unit in west Dublin and will also open a second European customer support centre.