Waterford Crystal, Persian carpets and French furniture in contents sale

Contents of recently sold Woodfield House in Co Clare at Sheppard’s auction

Nineteenth-century French violin attributed to Jean Baptiste Vuillaume, €5,000-€8,000, Sheppard’s

Sat Aug 14 2021 - 06:00

Contents of the recently sold Woodfield House in Broadford, Co Clare, will be auctioned in a live online sale on Tuesday and Wednesday, August 17th and 18th, at Sheppard's auction house in Durrow.

With 725 lots, the two-day sale features contents from the Queen Anne property, its gardens, stables and out-offices. Included is a good range of garden statuary, a Williams and Gibton centre table (lot 31, €2,500-€3,500); a selection of Persian carpets, Waterford Crystal, some modern furniture by high-end French maker Roche Bobois and a lovely set of Edwardian tan leather club chairs (lot 263, €1,400-€1,800). Also in there is a 19th-century French violin attributed to Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, who was the premier luthier in Europe of his day. The two-piece back of narrow curl is cased and listed at €5,000-€8,000. And with a few weeks left of summer, lot 748, a 19ft wooden lake boat, may well be of interest to angling enthusiasts (€2,000-€3,000).

Williams and Gibton centre table, €2,500-€3,500, Sheppard’s

Halo diamond ring €2,500-€3,500, John Weldon

Diamond cluster bracelet €5,300-€5,800, John Weldon

"It's amazing how far people will search for that prize piece for their collection," says auctioneer John Weldon regarding his recent sale of the Rolex Reference 1675, Mark 1, Long E model, known in horologist circles as the Pink Panther. The piece, part of an estate sale and described by Weldon as "an Antiques Roadshow moment", achieved €20,000 against a €15,000-€30,000 estimate, went to a Los Angeles collector.

Diamonds

Weldon's August sale – which is live online – on Tuesday, August 17th, from the sales rooms in Cows Lane, Temple Bar, has 379 lots. Highlights include a lovely cluster bracelet with 6.50 carats of diamonds (€5,300-€5,800); a line necklace with a similar weight of diamonds (€5,000-€6,000), along with a selection of cluster-set diamond rings and solitaires. A ladies stainless steel Oyster Perpetual Rolex is seeking €2,500-€3,500, while silver lots include an Irish ciborium weighing 674g by John Smyth, Dublin 1911 (€350-€550), and a two-handled cup weighing 606g listed at €300-€400. Featured rare coins are three gold proof collections from 1983, each containing a 22ct gold, £2 coin, a sovereign and half sovereign in a presentation case (€900-€1,200).

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Louis le Brocquy, The Táin, Bull of Cuailnge signed lithograph €2,000-€3,000, Hegarty’s

Portrait of a Lady by John B Yeats, €1,500-€1,800, Hegarty’s

Currently open and ending on Sunday, August 15th, is a specialised live online art sale curated by Hegarty's auction house in Bandon. With more than 150 lots featuring traditional and contemporary artworks, highlights include Louis le Brocquy, The Táin, Bull of Cuailnge from 1989, a signed and dated lithograph in blue, No 84 from an edition of 140, which is listed at €2,000-€3,000. Lot 5 is Portrait of a Lady by John B Yeats in pen and ink (€1,500-€1,800) while West Cork Scene of a summer day on the coast by James MacCarthy is seeking €900-€1,200.

Bidding is well under way for Dolan's summer sale of more than 300 lots of art, rare whiskies and collectables, which ends on Monday, August 16th. Collectables include an art deco glass match striker (lot 286, €40-€60); a set of three silver-plated wine coasters (lot 35, €30-€40) and a cast-iron hanging doorbell (lot 23, €50-€75).