Ailesbury Road in Ballsbridge is, along with the adjacent Shewsbury Road in Ballsbridge, Ireland's most expensive and exclusive residential area. A chance to see how the other half lives is at hand with a sale of house contents that is viewing this weekend. De Veres auctioneers of Kildare Street is selling the contents of 51 Ailesbury Road and the auction will take place on the premises on Monday at 11am.
Viewing of the 650 lots opens today from 10am-5pm and tomorrow from 11am-5pm.
De Veres said the house was sold recently by Louise and Rory Egan who are now selling some of the contents including fine period furniture such as a four-pillar dining table, Georgian breakfront bookcases, Irish Georgian silver tables, sideboards, occasional tables, gilt wood overmantle mirrors, a four-poster bed, paintings, prints, silver, porcelain, leather-bound books, fine wine, household items and effects, and objets d'art.
Maserati Quattroporte
But what's really likely to attract attention – and raise some eyebrows – is the inclusion of a Maserati. Lot 572, is a Maserati Quattroporte 2006, 4.3 litre V8 with an estimate of €15,000-€20,000. Quattroporte is, simply, the Italian for four-door. A review of this car by the BBC's Top Gear noted, "Only the Italians could get away with calling a car 'four door' " and, overall, described the model as an "Italian limo that's the nearest thing you can get to a four-door Ferrari".
A spokesman for the Charles Hurst Group in Belfast, who are the exclusive importers of Maserati for Ireland, said the car "would have retailed for €130,000 plus" in the Republic in 2006. This could be a bargain as auctioneer Rory Guthrie of de Veres said the car has only "30,000 miles on the clock" and has "just passed its NCT".
Breakfront bookcase
Other top lots include: lot 87, a large Georgian mahogany double breakfront bookcase (€10,000-€15,000); lot 93, a Georgian-style mahogany and brass-bound peat bucket (€2,000-€3,000); lot 131, a first edition copy of Ulysses by James Joyce (€5,000-€7,000); lot 167, a 19th century mahogany three-pillar dining table (€3,000-€5,000); and, among a selection of wine, lot 406, of interest to anyone celebrating a 70th birthday next year, a single bottle of Château Lafite Rothschild, 1947 (€300-€500).
Among the lots brought in to the house from other clients there is likely to be considerable interest from garden lovers in lot 384, a pair of late Victorian carved stone sphinxes (€2,000-€3,000). They were consigned by Val and Helen Dillon and once adorned the well-known garden at their house in Ranelagh. The couple have sold the house and are selling some of the contents,
Kilternan Lodge contents
Auctioneer Damien Matthews will hold a two-day auction of the contents of Kilternan Lodge on the premises in south Co Dublin next weekend on Saturday and Sunday (October 29th and 30th) at 1pm each day.
The house, which was sold recently, is outside Kilternan village (exit the M50 at Carrickmines) and was formerly the home of businessman Don Carroll who died in 2000. Mr Carroll was chairman of Carroll Industries, which included PJ Carroll & Co, the tobacco manufacturers, and was also governor of the Bank of Ireland on several occasions.
The auctioneer said the sale was “on the instructions of the executors of the late Don Carroll” and some 1,250 lots will go under the hammer including a portrait of Mr Carroll – appropriately smoking a cigarette – by the artist Derek Hill estimated at €1,000-€1,500. Other highlights include a pair of Regency Coade stone garden pedestals with urns – each 9ft high – estimated at €2,500-€3,500; and a bronze clock with a sculpted cherub in a chariot (€700-€1,200).
