Eclectic Collector auction on-line now

The eclectic array of collectibles in this popular series of auctions hosted by Whyte’s includes historic artefacts, manuscripts, documents and printed ephemera, also maps, books, silver, advertising signs and posters, militaria and weapons, coins, medals & banknotes, curios etc.

Mount Cashell archive.

An important and extensive archive of documents, relating to the Moores, Earls Mount Cashell and the Smyths and Holroyd Smyths of Ballynatray, Co. Waterford, is to be sold in 29 lots in Whyte’s Eclectic Collector auction on 6 April. The archive includes the minutes of Clonmel Town council from 1692-1711 (lot 13, estimate €1,500-€2,000); legal documents relating to property and marriage transactions between Moores, Ponsonbys, Colvilles, Smiths and other Anglo-Irish families from the 1660s to the mid-20^th century (lots 12 and 20, estimates range €3,000-€6,000); and the extraordinary North American diaries of the 3^rd Earl Mount Cashell, running to over a million words (lot 16, estimate €2,000-€3,000). Among the most interesting documents in the archive are letters and photographs which tell the story of the unlikely relationship between Alice Holroyd-Smyth, chatelaine of Ballynatray estate in West Waterford and the local IRA during the War of Independence and Civil War (lot 203, estimate €2,000-€3,000). The archive is an invaluable record for historians and genealogists and includes letters written by Edith Sommerville Ross (lot 207), Horace Plunkett (lot 27) and Oliver St John Gogarty (lot 25) and a correspondence between Sir Horace Plunkett and George Bernard Shaw after the burning by the IRA of Plunkett’s house (lot 206).

The Good Friday Agreement.

Few documents can be as topical as the Belfast ‘Good Friday’ Agreement, the landmark power sharing arrangement, which has given us more than 20 years of peace on this island.

The final draft of the Agreement was printed at Stormont on Good Friday, 1998 and distributed to delegates with a covering memorandum, which includes the phrase, “This is in all likelihood our last memorandum to you.”. A member of the Progressive Unionist Party delegation collected the signatures of forty-four participants including Tony Blair, Bertie Ahern, Martin McGuinness, Gerry Adams, George Mitchell, David Ervine, Brid Rogers, Billy Hutchinson, Seamus Mallon et al., The signed document is lot 261 in Whyte’s Eclectic Collector auction on 6 April, estimate €5,000-€7,000.

 

Robert Emmet frozen in bronze.

James Petrie (d.1819) was born in Dublin of Scottish parents. His studio at 82 Dame Street, where he painted portrait miniatures, also served as a kind of antiques and curios shop where he carried on business in jewellery, coins and antiquarian objects. He drew portraits of notable figures for magazines and published prints of Napper Tandy and John Philpot Curran, now very scarce.

Petrie’s most enduring work was more macabre, on 20 September 1803 he inveigled his way into Kilmainham Gaol where the executed Robert Emmet’s body had been brought and took a plaster cast of Emmet’s face. From this mould he made likenesses known as death masks which he then sold. It was one of these masks which was used to create a small number of bronze death masks, one of which is lot 53 in Whyte’s Eclectic Collector auction on 6 April, estimate €800-€1,200. Emmet’s corpse has never been positively located.

 

Submarine in a bottle.

The Poles had little to celebrate in Autumn 1939

Their proud nation was being crushed beneath the Nazi Blitzkrieg and resistance was reduced to skirmishes. The Orzel, one of the Polish Navy’s three submarines, was tasked with blockading the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein in Danzig port but was damaged by German minesweepers. She sailed to neutral Estonia, arriving in Tallinn on 14 September and was arrested by Estonian military authorities at the behest of Nazi Germany. She daringly escaped, damaging her radio in the process. The crew sailed her through the Baltic and around Denmark without charts or any navigational aid, other than a list of lighthouses. In the North Sea she was repeatedly attacked by both German and British warships. Forty days after she had originally sailed from Poland, Orzel made landfall, off the east coast of Scotland. She lay on the bottom until emergency repairs were made to the radio, then surfaced to transmit a message in English. A Royal Navy destroyer was despatched to escorted her into port. Lot 230 in Whyte’s April 6 Eclectic Collector auction is a diorama in a bottle with naively carved bone model of the Polish submarine Orzel sailing out of Tallinn. It has all the appearances of prisoner of war art and one can’t help but imagine a Polish prisoner of the Third Reich defiantly carving the heroic ship from scraps of bone. Estimate €150-€250.

Twenty pence for €6,000

A twenty pence coin dated 1985 [lot 397] is expected to fetch as much as €6,000 in Whyte’s Eclectic Collector auction on 6 April. These coins were issued in advance of production to various companies and organisations to facilitate calibration of vending machines and other coin operated devices such as telephones, meters etc. According to sources in the Central Bank less than 50 pieces of the 500 or so issued were not returned. To date about ten examples in private hands have been recorded, making it one of the rarest Irish modern coins.

Just remember the date – 1985 – no other twenty-pence piece is worth more than its face value.

  

Twenty quid for €6,000!

A twenty pounds note, lot 454, issued by the Central Bank of Ireland in 1943, is expected to make in the region of €5,000 to €6,000. The note bears a ‘War Code’, a special random overprint designed to thwart forgers – particularly the Germans who were actively forging British and American notes. Whyte’s previously got a record price of €9,500 for a similar example. If it had been spent in 1943 it would have bought you the equivalent of €700 worth of goods today.

 

 

 

U2’s school magazine

Two issues with contributions from Bono, his future wife, the Edge and Adam.

The liberal ethos of Mount Temple Comprehensive School in the 1970s shouts from the pages of the two issues of its student-produced magazine, ‘Mount Temple, The Inside Story’ (1976) and Mount Temple, The Ugly Truth (1978) Contributions include Adam Clayton’s piece on Dublin’s live music scene, ‘Aggro in the Pop Culture’, Dave Evans’ (Edge’s) review of the Junior Cup rugby team and Paul Hewson’s (Bono’s) interview of the headmaster, Mr Brooks. There is also a theatre review by Alison Stewart (Ali Hewson, Bono’s wife). Consigned by a former classmate of Bono’s, the magazines are lot 595 in Whytes Eclectic Collector auction on 6 April, estimate €600-€800. Lot 594, from the same vendor, is a Mount Temple school photograph, class of 1977, featuring Bono looking ready to take over the World, estimate €150-€200.

 

Viewing at Whyte’s, 38 Molesworth Street, Dublin 2: Wednesday to Friday, 3-5 April, 10am to 5pm daily. The auction starts at 11am on Saturday 6 April at Freemason’s Hall, Molesworth Street, and will be broadcast live at www.bid.whytes.ie

For further information  or images contact Stuart Purcell, sp@whytes.ie – Tel: (01) 676 2888 or 086 106 4200 or Ian Whyte, iw@whytes.ieTel: 01 676 2888 or 087 2323214.

Important Irish Art at Whyte’s on 27 November

THE ULTIMATE OFFERING FOR EQUESTRIAN
COLLECTORS & BLACKSHAW BUYERS

Whyte’s Important Irish Art auction goes on view Saturday to Monday 25-27 November at the RDS Ballsbridge and includes a stellar selection by Ireland’s most sought-after artists. Among the highlights of the winter sale is a significant collection of 8 works by the late Basil Blackshaw. Varying in guide price from €2,000-€3,000 [lot 74, Jet] to €50,000-€70,000 [lot 69, Grey Horse in a Stable] this body of work offers all budgets an opportunity to acquire an example by the County Antrim native. Included in the catalogue is an insightful essay on the collection by author and dramatist Brian McAvera whose musings on the paintings, coupled with his knowledge of the artist and his place in the history of art, presents bidders with a greater understanding of the pictures that catch their eye. The dynamic Horses Exercising [illustrated, lot 68, €30,000-€40,000] graces the cover of the auction catalogue and is described by McAvera as “… reminiscent of Yeats…a remarkably powerful depiction of movement and energy”. It sports an excellent provenance, having been acquired directly from the artist by the present owner, and demonstrates Blackshaw’s innate understanding of an animal with which his name has become synonymous.

 

A PEONY TRANSFUSED WITH LOVE

Lot 66 (illustrated), Peony, 1991 by Louis le Brocquy guides €35,000-€45,000 and depicts the last blossoming of the flower grown by the artist’s wife Anne and painted in homage to her. It was inspired by the work of French artist Édouard Manet, whose work le Brocquy had viewed in Paris in 1938. The painting delights on several levels, for its expression of love, its personal significance to the artist as well as its mesmerising painterliness. An accompanying catalogue entry by the artist’s friend and former Abbot of Glenstal, Dom Mark Patrick Hederman explores the significance of the work and its history. A beautiful early work on paper by le Brocquy [lot 37, €6,000-€8,000] guides at a more affordable level for an original artwork and depicts a Flower Seller, Ann Street, Dublin in Christmas Eve, 1944. Two beautiful examples in bronze by the artist’s sister, Melanie le Brocquy, are also included in this sale, lots 63 & 64 guiding €2,000-€3,000 each.
A striking example by Daniel O’Neill entitled Girls and Dogs is offered as lot 50 [€25,000-€35,000] and is beautifully preserved and presented in its original hand carved Waddington Gallery frame. The painting has not been seen publicly since it was acquired by the present owner’s parents from the Waddington Gallery. The size, subject and original presentation of this outstanding example by O’Neill is sure to appeal to collectors of this artist who are drawn to his enigmatic depiction of his subjects and expressionistic use of colour.

MOUNTAIN VIEWS BY LAVERY AND HENRY

The top lot by value in the November auction is Evening, Montreux by Sir John Lavery [lot 20, illustrated left, €80,000-€100,000] depicting Lake of Geneva with the twinkling lights of the town off to the left. The Laverys were keen visitors to the ‘Swiss Riviera’ and in December 1923 they arrived in Montreux where they stayed at the Palace Hotel. The exceptional character of the setting capitvated the artist who, liberated from the studio, would ignore medical advice and trek to Caux to paint what he described as ‘the airman’s view’ above the clouds. Clouds are the principal characters in Paul Henry’s painting of the West of Ireland, which, like Lavery, see nature dominate the majority of the composition. Two examples by Henry are included in the sale Coomasaharn, County Kerry, 1930-1935 [lot 11, illustrated right,  €50,000-€70,000] and an earlier work, thought to depict a view from Rosroe, County Mayo, lot 14, €50,000-€60,000.

Another artist to draw on the West of Ireland for inspiration was Gerard Dillon and there are several examples by him in this sale. The star lot by value, however, takes inspiration from the artist’s time spent in Italy in the summer of 1947. This masterpiece – Italian with Fowl, 1948 [lot 41, illustrated, €50,000-€70,000] – was painted the following year and exhibited in 1949 at the prestigious Irish Exhibition of Living Art in Dublin. A later work, Holy Island [lot 46, €30,000-€50,000] brings together Dillon’s favourite themes – the West and Celtic relief sculpture – with the technical innovation of adding sand to oil paint that he developed during the late 1950s.  This work was loaned by the present owner to the important exhibition,  ‘Gerard Dillon, Painter, Dreamer, Clown’, at the Ulster Museum, Belfast last year.

A view of The Dodder in Flood, Ballsbridge, Dublin, 1929 by Jack B. Yeats [lot 24, illustrated, €30,000-€40,000] is a powerful work which compacts the crushing flow of the river into a punchy oil sure to attract buyers from this salubrious area of the capital. Although the palette is composed predominately of blacks and greys, close examination reveals, like most Yeats’, a vibrant and colourful underbelly where reds, pinks, yellows and blues peek through the licks and scrapes shaped on the board.
Other famous artists represented in the auction are William John Leech with St. Giles, Holburn, from Charing Cross Road, London [lot 19, illustrated €9,000-€12,000] which exudes light and warmth through Leech’s masterful use of colour. Traditional landscapes by Percy French, Frank McKelvey, Maurice Canning Wilks, George Gillespie and Charles Lamb will satisfy those keen on quality pastoral scenes while Aloysius C. O’Kelly explores North African terrain in his painting Desert Charge. Contemporaries Arthur Armstrong, George Campbell, Basil Rákóczi and Kenneth Hall all feature with works in oil and watercolour. Other names to watch out for include Barrie Cooke, Tony O’Malley, Felim Egan, William Scott and works from the estate of Robert Taylor Carson among many others.
All the artworks are on display with full descriptions and many interesting notes from art experts at www.whytes.ie
This fabulous auction – comprising over 180 works of art – will be on view at the RDS Anglesea Road entrance, Ballsbridge, Saturday to Monday, 25-27 November 2017, 10am to 6pm daily; admission and parking is free. The auction will be broadcast live on the internet at whytes.ie, invaluable.com, auctionzip.com, encheres.lefigaro.fr and the-saleroom.com; collectors around the world can bid live from their computers, smart TV’s, mobile phones or android devices.

Enquiries to Adelle Hughes  or Peter Whyte at 01 676 2888 or info@whytes.ie.

 

AFFORDABLE AUTUMN ART AT WHYTE’S NEXT MONDAY

A treasure trove for art collectors awaits at Whyte’s in their autumn auction on Monday 23 October at 6pm. The sale comprises 270 lots with guides from as low as €100 and all the well-known names one would expect to see in the major art sales.

Viewing opens this Wednesday to Friday 18-20 October and Saturday 21 October 1-5pm. Viewing will also be possible Monday 23 October – day of sale  – 10am to 5pm all at Whyte’s Galleries, 38 Molesworth Street, Dublin.

 

Among the artworks on offer are unique items from the Estate of Judge Desmond Windle – a portion of which already sold with excellent results in Whyte’s sale at the beginning of the month – as well as a further selection from the seemingly never ending collection from the Estate of renowned collectors George & Maura McClelland.

 

DAN O’NEILL DRAWINGS
Shrewd buyers will see value in the various “job lots” of unframed items such as lots 39 to 47 all by Daniel O’Neill. These comprise works on paper – acquired by the McClellands – including portraits, landscapes and some sketches for oil paintings. Suitably framed, these examples will make a wonderful addition to an established collection or represent a judicious early purchase for the novice buyer, not to mention great gifts for art buffs.

 

LOWRY FOR LESS

Not all examples in this sale are small in scale. There are sizeable examples too including a wonderful batik by Bernadette Madden, some large works in oil by Edward Delaney, Malcolm Bennett and Trevor Geoghegan and substantial watercolours by Martin Gale and Barrie Cooke. Can’t afford a painting by a famous artist? Buy a limited edition print! Paul Henry, L.S. Lowry, Jack B. Yeats, Elizabeth Rivers, John Luke, William Orpen, Dame Elizabeth Frink, Micheal Farrell, Robert Ballagh, Louis le Brocquy and the Cuala Press all feature with wonderful examples.

 

DECORATIVE ART TO ENHANCE YOUR HOME

Not chasing the big names but looking for attractive artworks to decorate your walls? There are a variety of lots comprising beautiful watercolours and oils by Irish and English artists of the 19th and 20th century some identified and others not. For those with a period home for example lots 237 to 243 will prove excellent value for money while lots 261 to 270 offer fantastic value on art books to grace the coffee table or reference shelves.

 

1950s NOSTALGIA

Buyers with a little imagination will also see value in the variety and quality of works by William Mason and Patrick Leonard in particular. Charming pastels of landscapes and cityscapes by Mason [lots 143-163] and fabulous studies of female fashions of the 1950s by Leonard are among the best [lots 165-180]. These works – suitably framed – offer superb value for money and a rare chance to acquire such pieces at extremely affordable guides.

SCARCE SCULPTURES BY MARKEY

A small selection of sculpture is offered including unique woodcarvings by Markey Robinson [lots 112-117] and a Carrara marble sculpture of a polar bear from the 1930s by George Frederick Morris Harding – an example of the same subject by him can be found in Queen’s University in Belfast.

Other names to watch out for include: Pauline Bewick, Basil Blackshaw, Brian Bourke, Elizabeth Brophy, William Conor, George Gillespie, Mainie Jellett, Gladys Maccabe, Seán McSweeney, Hughie O’Donoghue and Tory Island artists Patsy Dan & Ruairí Rodgers

Viewing opens this Wednesday to Friday 18-20 October and Saturday 21 October 1-5pm. Viewing will also be possible Monday 23 October – day of sale  – 10am to 5pm all at Whyte’s Galleries, 38 Molesworth Street, Dublin. The auction commences at 6pm on Monday 23 October at The Freemasons Hall, Molesworth Street.

Live bidding on-line is available at http://www.whytes.ie – click on the BID LIVE link

 

 

Great results at Whyte’s art auction

 

A large turnout of over 100 room bidders competed with over 50 telephone bidders and over 150 internet bidders.  The total sold was €1.2 million and 83% of lots found buyers. 15% of lots, totalling €125,000 were sold to Internet buyers.

The following are a few of the better results: (hammer price excluding Buyer’s Premium of 20% plus VAT)

6, Frank McKelvey RHA RUA (1895-1974) BOYS FISHING, (Estimate: €5000-€7000), €11,500, sold to the trade, County Down

17, William John Leech RHA ROI (1881-1968) BOWL OF FRUIT c.1944, (Estimate: €12000-€15000), €22,000, sold to a collector, County Dublin

19, Patrick Leonard HRHA (1918-2005) A HOT DAY IN RUSH, COUNTY DUBLIN, (Estimate: €8000-€10000), €18,000, sold to a collector, County Dublin

26, Gerard Dillon (1916-1971) NATIVITY, (Estimate: €20000-€30000), €19,000, sold to a collector, USA

27, Colin Middleton MBE RHA (1910-1983) CHILDREN AT PLAY, 1939, (Estimate: €30000-€50000), €29,000, sold to a collector, USA

40, Markey Robinson (1918-1999) THE TINKERS’ CAMP, (Estimate: €5000-€7000), €11,000, sold to the trade, Dublin

46, Louis le Brocquy HRHA (1916-2012) SEASIDE FAIRGROUND, BRAY HEAD, 1949, (Estimate: €6000-€8000), €10,000, sold to a collector, Dublin

47, Louis le Brocquy HRHA (1916-2012) TRAVELLERS, 1948, (Estimate: €60000-€80000), €58,000, sold to a collector, County Dublin

50, Frederick Edward McWilliam RA HRUA (1909-1992) MATRIARCH, 1935, (Estimate: €100000-€150000), €90,000, sold to a collector, London

53, Tony O’Malley HRHA (1913-2003) MORNING LIGHT II, PARADISE ISLAND, BAHAMAS, 1982, (Estimate: €30000-€50000), €30,000, sold to a collector, London

55, Tony O’Malley HRHA (1913-2003) MORNING LIGHT, PARADISE ISLAND, BAHAMAS, 1980, (Estimate: €15000-€20000), €26,000, sold to a collector, Belfast

57, Tony O’Malley HRHA (1913-2003) THE NIGHT PAINTER, 1981, (Estimate: €12000-€15000), €14,000, sold to a collector, London

58, Tony O’Malley HRHA (1913-2003) THE GROVE STUDIO, 1983, (Estimate: €8000-€10000), €10,000, sold to a collector, Dublin

77, Dame Lucie Rie (Austrian/British 1902-1995) FOOTED BOWL, c.1980, (Estimate: €10000-€15000), €30,000, sold to a collector, Channel Islands

78, Dame Lucie Rie (1902-1995) PORCELAIN BOTTLE, c.1960, (Estimate: €10000-€15000), €20,000, sold to a collector, Channel Islands

81, Walter Frederick Osborne RHA ROI (1859-1903) GIRL FEEDING CALVES, (Estimate: €18000-€22000), €17,000, sold to a collector, Dublin

87, Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871-1957) FIGURES GATHERED c.1904-06, (Estimate: €8000-€12000), €17,000, sold to a collector, Canada

89, Harry Kernoff RHA (1900-1974) THE METRO, PARIS, 1931, (Estimate: €15000-€20000), €18,000, sold to a collector, County Dublin

92, Paul Henry RHA (1876-1958) TURF TO MEND THE FIRE, (Estimate: €12000-€15000), €12,500, sold to a collector, Dublin

95, Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871-1957) SINGING ‘UNDER THE CANOPY OF HEAVEN’, 1950, (Estimate: €90000-€120000), €85,000, sold to a collector, London

98, Daniel O’Neill (1920-1974) FIGURE IN A LANDSCAPE, (Estimate: €30000-€40000), €45,000, sold to a collector, Dublin

116, William Crozier HRHA (1930-2011) WINTER GROWTH, 1995, (Estimate: €7000-€9000), €10,000, sold to a collector, Dublin

For the full results click here

Eclectic Collector report in Irish Times

http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/homes-and-property/fine-art-antiques/the-eclectic-auction-political-posters-unusual-headgear-and-a-roll-of-nazi-toilet-paper-1.2785542

 

Will your granny’s teapot fetch millions?

The Irish Times reports that a Chinese teapot fetched $3.5 million this week and Ian Whyte compares the present Chinese antiques boom to the Irish art boom during the Celtic Tiger days:

Irish Times on Teapots of Value

 

Collectibles Podcasts

Ian Whyte and Stuart Purcell discuss some of the fascinating objects in Whyte’s Eclectic Collector auction:

PODCASTS

Lot 640, a Victorian Indian gold mohur, 1862, estimate €320-€350

1914-1918 World War I, German Imperial picklehaub.

Relics of Roscommon priest killed in North Korea to be sold. See Irish Times story.

Relics of Roscommon priest killed in North Korea to be sold

Eclectic Collector

Michael Parsons reports on the sale in The Irish Times:

http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/homes-and-property/fine-art-antiques/the-eclectic-auction-political-posters-unusual-headgear-and-a-roll-of-nazi-toilet-paper-1.2785542

 

 

Eclectic Collector Podcast https://itunes.apple.com/ie/podcast/whytes-eclectic-collector/id1151650087?mt=2