If your love language is gift giving and receiving, the forthcoming feast of St Valentine is a perfect opportunity to express yourself, and auctioneers around Ireland would be more than happy to oblige in helping you choose heirloom and vintage gifts for the ones you love.
Hegarty Fine Art & Antiques Auctioneers in Bandon, Co Cork, will host a live auction on Wednesday, February 5th from 11am.
“It will include a great collection of fine jewellery, Irish and continental silver, and art,” explains Lisa Keane from Hegarty’s.
The lots include an Art Deco 18ct white gold chain with diamond and pearl pendant (€1,000-€1,500); an 18ct yellow gold and platinum diamond and ruby cluster ring (€1,500-€2,000); and an 18ct white gold sapphire and diamond floral cluster dress bombé shaped ring (€1,000-€1,500). Bombé style rings have a rounded curving shape, similar to that of a bomb. This style of ring emerged during Edwardian times and became very fashionable from the 1950s to the 1970s. These large dress rings, whether with geometric shapes from the Art Deco period, or dome shaped mid-century pieces with gem stones, have a definite standout quality.
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An 18ct white and yellow gold brooch, in the shape of a bunny with diamond studded ears holding a large acorn (€2,800-€3,500), is another striking piece for sale at the Hegarty’s auction.
Meanwhile, Damian Matthews of Matthews auction rooms in Kells, Co Meath playfully highlights a few potential Valentine’s Day gifts in his forthcoming auctions on Sunday, February 9th and Monday, February 10th. These include a bronze sculpture of a girl with a heart-shaped balloon (€200-€300). The modern piece is based on a series of stencil murals, Girl with Balloon, created by street artist Banksy around London in the early 2000s. Later, Banksy used variations of this design to support social campaigns including the Syrian refugee crisis in 2014.
Matthews also suggests a Victorian gold cased lover’s portrait miniature (€500-€800) as a potential Valentine’s Day gift. “This would have been presented as a lover’s forget me not and is interesting due to the diamond insets on the painting itself,” says Matthews.
Portrait miniatures were popular before photography developed as intimate gifts given within families or by hopeful males in courtship. They were often painted when a family member was going to be absent for significant periods of time. While many were framed with stands or hung on the wall, some were tiny enough to be fitted into lockets, watch pieces or other pieces of jewellery. The Irish Georgian Society recently published Portrait Miniatures and the Irish Country House: The Edmund Corrigan Collection by Kevin V Mulligan, following on from the exhibition of the same name in the City Assembly House in October 2024.
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Finally, Lot 100 is a new online auction house whose first auction finishes on Tuesday, February 11th. Set up by Beth-Ann Smith and Ken Madden, who previously ran The Lismore Food Company, Lot 100 will initially host bimonthly sales of paintings, prints, sculpture and photography from Irish and international artists.
“While appealing to buyers and sellers of all kinds, we would love to attract a younger generation and new collectors,” says Smith.
Their first sale of 50 works includes pieces by artists based in Ireland (including Martin Gale, Richard Gorman, Jane O’Malley and Colin Davidson), as well as striking works from the 20th century. The latter includes a photographic print, Poolside in Arizona (€300-€500) by the famous American photographer, Slim Aarons (1916-2006). Aarons began his career as the official photographer at the US Military Academy at Westpoint and went on to cover the second World War in North Africa, the Middle East and Europe. After the war, he changed his focus entirely to document the glamorous lifestyles of international celebrities and aristocrats in the United States and throughout Europe. His photographs appeared in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Life and Town & Country.
In Italian (Skateboards) – Guggenheim Edition, by Jean Michel Basquiat (€600-€800), the work of the Brooklyn-born graffiti artist who shot to fame in the 1980s but sadly died of a heroin overdose aged 27, also features in the Lot 100 auction.
Hegartyantiques.com; matthewsauctionrooms.com; lot100.ie
What did it sell for?
Markey Robinson, Nude
Estimate €1,500-€2,000
Hammer price €1,300
Auction house Adam’s
Patrick Scott, Untitled
Estimate €1,500-€2,500
Hammer price €4,200
Auction house Adam’s
A pair of Chinese triangular wall vases, Jim Lennon collection
Estimate £4,000-£6,000
Hammer price £9,600 (€11,420)
Auction house Bonhams Scotland
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