slanesuccess

High Prices Across the Board at Slane Auction

On 6th October 2009 at Slane Castle, James Adam's held the most prestigious sale of fine art and antiques Ireland has seen in decades. Comprised of fresh to the market pieces from Irish country houses, the sale of over 800 lots lasted almost 11 hours and totalled €2.1 million. The sale, in the works for over a year, was based around items rescued from the 1957 fire at Rockingham House in Boyle, Co. Roscommon, and included lots from other important houses such as Ballynatray, Co. Waterford, and former homes of the Dukes of Buckingham, Stowe, Wotton and Gosfield Park.

Rockingham House

The quality and rarity of the lots on offer attracted the most interest in living memory at Adam's. Much of the interest was from Irish bidders who packed Slane Castle's Great Hall to capacity, while international interest was furious with bidders flying from overseas to view the sale at the weekend and bid by phone on the day. An extremely rare set of watercolour/gouaches by Luigi Mayer that were recently discovered in Co. Down attracted the most international interest. Having been in a folder, unbeknown to the owners, for 200 years, the 43 painting were in incredibly fresh condition and totalled over €300,000.

Luigi Mayer

Highlights from Rockingham included six 18th century portraits by Robert Hunter which sold for €319,000, and will remain in Ireland; a portrait of Margaret O’Cahan attributed to Garret Morphy sold for €27,000 against a pre-sale estimate of €15,000-20,000; and Jeremiah Barrett’s conversation portrait of the King children made €58,000 (€30,000-50,000). Lots of porcelain from Rockingham made multiples of pre-sale estimates: a Chamberlains Worcester armorial tureen sold for €3,200 (€500-600) and a pair of Helena Wolfsohn factory Dresden pot-pourri shaped vases and covers made €3,000 (€500-800). Furniture did equally well with a pair of Irish Regency four-tier mahogany bookcases by Gillingtons selling for €22,000 (€12,000-16,000), a mid 18th Century Irish mahogany armchair made €13,000 (€8,000-10,000), and the Rockingham hall chairs (c.1806) sold for €10,400 (€6,000-10,000).

The Rockingham Hall Chairs

Sold for €10,400

Other highlights from the marathon sale included a pair of Regency mahogany two-tier dumb-waiters (sold for €11,000, est: €6,000-8,000), a pair of George III painted beechwood square back sofas c.1790 from Ballynatray (sold for €10,000, est: €2,000-3,000), a small Queen Anne walnut writing desk from Wotton Estate (sold for €8,000, est: €4,000-6,000) and a William and Mary walnut chest on stand, also from Wotton Estate (sold for €6,000, est €2,000-3,000).

Chamberlains Worcester armorial tureen

Sold for €3,200

James O’Halloran, Managing Director of Adam’s, commented “The Country House Collections Sale at Slane Castle was an outstanding success and is certainly a formula that we will repeat when the opportunity arises. The level of interest in the very many items in the sale and the consistently high prices obtained across the board, certainly suggested that the demand for ‘new to market’, high quality antiques and collectables, is still very strong. I have no doubt that the wonderful setting of Slane Castle on the banks of the Boyne contributed almost as much as the provenance associated with so many of the spectacular items in the auction, in making this such a success.”