A RUGBY BALL FROM THE 1981 APARTHEID TOUR SIGNED BY THE IRISH AND SOUTH AFRICAN SQUADS
Lot 358 at Mullen’s timed online Collector’s Cabinet sale which runs to the evening of April 27 recalls memories of the highly controversial Ireland rugby tour to South Africa in 1981. The IRFU defied a worldwide sporting boycott on South Africa and sanctioned the tour, despite condemnation from the anti-apartheid movement and across the political spectrum in Ireland and Britain. The apartheid tour was condemned by the Irish public and is seen as a low point in Irish rugby. The Irish team played seven matches and won three. Donal Spring, Hugo MacNeill, Tony Ward and Moss Keane refused to travel. In the first test the South African player Erroll George Tobias became the first coloured player to appear in an international for the Republic of South Africa. The rugby ball is estimated at €400-€600.
Roderic O’Conor (1860-1940) – Chrysanthemums and Christmas Roses, 1897
This oil on canvas by Roderic O’Conor is, at €80,000-€100,000, the most expensively estimated lot at Fonsie Mealy’s Chatsworth summer fine art sale in Castlecomer on April 29 and 30 and May 1. It has re-emerged on the market after many decades in a private collection. Painted in 1897 Chyrsanthemums and Christmas Roses was shown in Paris in 1904 in the Salon des Independents. More than 1,300 lots will come under the hammer at three days of sales. The catalogue is online and viewing gets underway in Castlecomer on Apirl 26.
Conor Horgan EDGE 53, 2024, from the series EDGE, courtesy of the artist and Photo Museum Ireland
The top prize of €10,000 of the inaugural Taylor Wessing Irish Photo Prize has been awarded to Conor Horgan for his work from the series EDGE. Addressing the emergence of barriers along Dublin’s Grand Canal and nearby areas in an attempt to deter homeless people seeking asylum from sleeping there, Horgan’s image focuses not on individuals but on the structures themselves. It invites viewers to consider the experiences of these men who after they arrived, were met with the opposite of what they most needed – protection.
Two Judges’ Selection Awards of €2,500 each were presented to Laura Dunwoody and Salem Anowe Chukwuezi for distinct and powerful perspectives on contemporary Ireland. Dunwoody’s series Nothing Lasts Forever offers an intimate and long-term portrait of youth and community in Ballymun, while Chukwuezi’s Covert showcases the reality for Black men in Ireland, making visible what often goes unseen. The Taylor Wessing Irish Photo Bursaryof €10,000, which recognises an emerging artist whose practice shows exceptional promise, was awarded to Patryk Gizicki. His work explores youth culture and evolving ideas of identity and masculinity, offering a nuanced and personal perspective shaped by his Polish heritage and Irish upbringing.
Presented in partnership with Taylor Wessing and Photo Museum Ireland and facilitated by Business to Arts, the prize establishes a national platform for photography, offering unprecedented visibility and support for artists at all stages of their careers. As the largest combined prize fund for contemporary photography in Ireland, the initiative marks a significant investment in the country’s cultural life. The Taylor Wessing Irish Photo Prize exhibition is at Photo Museum Ireland, Dublin from April 22 to May 24.
HERMES KELLY II RETOURNE 25. UPDATE: THIS MADE €22,000 at hammer
This Hermes Kelly handbag, in the Retourne style, in Black Cheri calfskin leather with gold hardware is lot 20 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s auction of fine jewellery and watches, which runs until the evening of April 22. From the 2025 collection it is new and unworn and estimated at €10,000-€15,000. There are 157 lots on the catalogue for this online auction. The most expensively estimated – at €40,000-€60,000 – is a pair of Art Deco ruby and diamond ear pendants set with six cabochon rubies weighing approximately 17 carats.
RUBY AND DIAMOND EAR PENDANTS. UPDATE: THESE MADE €38,000 at hammer
A pair of Irish George II console tables from Adams Country House Collections at Howth Castle sale.
A pair of Irish George II giltwood console tables will lead the annual Country House Collections sale at Howth Castle by Adam’s on April 27 and 28. Complete with later associated marble tops they are estimated at €60,000-€80,000. Adams say these giltwood console tables represent some of the very finest of their type to come to market in recent years. The later associated brêche violette marble tops are a striking complement to the dramatic giltwood and gesso frame beneath and further highlight the distinctive Roman style adopted by many Irish furniture makers of the mid-18th century.
The sale will be on view at Howth Castle for three days from next Saturday (April 25). Day one on April 27 is an online only sale with 381 lots. There will be a live auction at St. Stephen’s Green on April 28 from 11 am.
A collection of Cork silhouettes by Stephen O’Driscoll at Lynes and Lynes.
A feast of rare and tempting collectibles from old Cork silhouettes and magic lantern slides at Lynes and Lynes to an 1850’s governess cart and a collection of over 5,000 vinyl records at Aidan Foley awaits auction goers and online acquirers this week.
From gracious bedroom contents at five star Mount Juliet to the hallowed halls of a bishop’s palace there is a long and seductive list of available lots.
In their first auction of 2026 at Carrigtwohill on April 25 Lynes and Lynes will offer part two of the contents from the estate of the late Tom and Kay Burke of Cork, items from the collection of newly retired Church of Ireland Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross Paul Colton and a pair of portraits by renowned Polish artist, writer, philosopher and theorist Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz Witkacy, a political commissar in St. Petersburg in 1916 during the Russian Revolution.
At online auctions on April 20, 21 and 22 at 6 pm Aidan Foley of Doneraile will offer contents from 30 bedrooms at Mount Juliet including quality satinwood bedroom suites along with contents from The Brogue Inn, Killimer and from an old record shop. The auction is on view this weekend at the old Cleeves toffee factory off the Dock Road in Limerick.
A c1930 French Art Deco tea and coffee service at Lynes and Lynes.
It is unusual to find a collection of 12 Cork silhouettes by Stephen O’Driscoll (c1825-1895) in one auction. The Cork lithographer produced portraits of prominent citizens, street characters and beggars, often touched up with gold or paint, and they are always sought after. Estimated at €2,500-€3,500 these ones carry titles like: The Mayoralty 1885, Cork Union Workhouse, Waiting for the boat, The Royal Visit to Cork and “stand back my Lord and let the coffin pass”.
The most expensive lots at Lynes are the Polish portraits, each estimated at €15,000-€20,000, a high silver content Art Deco French tea and coffee service (€5,000-€6,000) and an early Irish Georgian bureau bookcase (€3,000-€5,000).
Among more than 400 lots are a large collection of hand painted magic lantern slides and machine (€300-€500), a one armed bandit in working order (€100-€200), a gold mesh bracelet (€3,000-€4,000), an old advertising sign for P Gallwey, Wine and Spirit Merchants, Cork (€40-€60), a Kentucky Derby amusement arcade horse racing game (€200-€400), a Regency wine table (€200-€300) and a 1904 gold sovereign (€400-€600).
Viewing for this highly varied and interesting sale is now underway and continues from 10 am to 5 pm daily until next Friday.
Original Pogues ten days of Christmas tour posters from the Savoy in Limerick at Aidan Foley’s sale.
Aidan Foley has previously sold contents from Ashford Castle, Adare Manor and Cashel Palace and even though old style bedroom furniture is out of fashion he anticipates considerable interest in this sale. The bedrooms at Mount Juliet yielded plenty to interest latter day collectors. There are 30 pairs of lined curtains which have been professionally packed and are in excellent condition, modern four poster beds, Victorian wardrobes, Victorian and Georgian chests of drawers, dressing tables, a good Georgian sideboard and artwork including two original 19th century equestrian paintings.
There will be demand from France and Germany for music posters from the Brogue Inn featuring Thin Lizzy, U2 and The Pogues among others. The collection includes Guinness mirrors, catering equipment, restaurant furniture and a variety of pub collectibles. The auction also offers a collection of more than 5,000 vinyl records from the 1970’s and ’80’s from an old record shop. Many of these are in mint condition and unused.
A Victorian horse drawn governess card at Aidan Foley’s sale.
In the early 1960’s Andy Warhol pioneered a new kind of celebrity portraiture with subjects like Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and Elizabeth Taylor. The Ingrid Bergman portfolio revisited the series in the 1980’s. When Warhol was commissioned by Galerie Borjeson in Malmo, Sweden to portray Bergman he made a suite of three silkscreen portraits and one trial proof of the Academy Award winning actress and one of Sweden’s most celebrated film icons. It was completed in 1983, one year after the death of Bergman. Two works from the series, Herself and The Nun, each number 55 from an edition of 250, are at Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish and International online art auction on the evening of April 21, each estimated at €30,000-€50,000. The auction is on view until April 20 at the RDS. Pictured here is Herself, from: Three Portraits of Ingrid Bergman (1983).
A rare photo of the O’Donovan Rossa funeral committee. UPDATE: THIS MADE 900 AT HAMMER
In August of 1915 the funeral of Fenian leader Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa was a rallying point for Irish Republicans, often cited as a precursor to the events of the Easter Rising the following year. The passionate Glasnevin graveside oration by Padraig Pearse finished with the oft quoted words: “Ireland unfree shall never be at peace”. A rare photograph of The O’Donovan Rossa funeral committee is lot 159 at Whyte’s timed online Eclectic Collector sale which draws to a close from 1 pm today. The estimate is €500-€700 for a picture which includes Eamon de Valera, Thomas McDonagh, Seamus Buggy, Arthur Griffith, Cathal Brugha, John MacBride, Countess Markievicz and Tom Clarke. Everyone in it is named. Labour members of the committee not in the photo include James Larkin.
The Eclectic Collector is a fascinating sale. Lot 217 is an account of the death of Michael Collins by Emmet Dalton, who was travelling with him at Beal na mBlath. It consists of eight typewritten pages signed in blue pencil in Dalton’s hand. This unique eyewitness account is thought to be unpublished and is estimated at €2,000-€3,000. More than 500 lots of historical artefacts, manuscripts, documents, photographs, books, militaria, medals, weapons and memorabilia including advertising, sport and entertainment, posters, postcards, coins and bank notes will come under the hammer.
Emmet Dalton’s account of the death of Michael Collins UPDATE: THIS MADE 6,000 AT HAMMER
This set of five Irish George III leather fire buckets made £82,550 over an estimate of £2,000-£3,000 at Christie’s Collections London sale. Dating from the third quarter of the 18th century they from Ardbraccan House in Co. Meath. Within a sale which brought in £3.2 million the lots from Ardbraccan realised £1.2 million, selling 148% above the low estimate. Among them was a painting by Richard Wilson of Phaeton’s Petition to Apollo which made £82,550 over a top estimate of £30,000 and a mid 18th century Irish side table which made £76,200 over a top estimate of £60,000.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for March 22, 2026)
RICHARD WILSON, R.A. (PENEGOES 1713/14-1782 COLOMENDY) – Phaeton’s petition to Apollo
1915. World War I Irish recruiting poster featuring the sinking of the Lusitania. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,400 AT HAMMER
This dramatic and very rare First World War recruitment poster is lot 122 at Whyte’s Eclectic Collector timed online auction which ends from 1 pm on April 18. The poster, with a graphic image of the sinking of the Lusitania off the Old Head of Kinsale, is estimated at €600-€800. The auction offers lots of very collectible art alongside historical documents of national importance and lots ranging from the foundation document of Sinn Fein written in Arthur Griffith’s hand and an archive of the funeral of O’Donovan Rossa to a Gretsch guitar signed by all members of U2 and a 1964 Rolling Stones Book signed by all members of the band.
