Auctions: A 19th-century mirror, a home bar — and art fit for a pharaoh
A modern J-shaped home bar and a 19th-century giltwood mirror by RW Clarke, Cork, both at Fonsie Mealy.
Offering everything from a circular giltwood mirror by Clarkes of Cork, an Irish bureau gifted by Winston Churchill and a set of lithographs of Egypt and Nubia to antique pottery from the Della Robia Studio, Birkenhead, a modern home bar and an ebonised Italian dining set Fonsie Mealy's two-day sale in Castlecomer on Wednesday and Thursday is of wide appeal.
More than 700 lots will come under the hammer over two days. The 19th-century bureau (€1,000-€1,500) was, by family tradition, a gift from Churchill to General Sir Bindon Blood.
Churchill served under Blood at the North West Frontier in 1897 and dedicated his first non-fiction book, to him.
There will be local interest in a 19th-century circular leaf-decorated mirror and original plate by RW Clarke of Cork (€200-€300) and collectors will be taken by three terracotta blue and white relief panels attributed to the Harold Rathbone Della Robia Studio in Birkenhead (€800-€1,000).
Collectors of a different sort have lots to choose from like a modern Formica-glazed and padded home bar, matching shelves and four high stools (€500-€700); a five-piece ebonised Italian dining set by Molteni (€1,500-€2,000); four leather armchairs by Rolf Benz (€800-€1,000) and a modern L-shaped designer couch (€500-€600).
The excitement surrounding the discovery of the tomb of King Thutmose II in the Valley of the Kings — the first finding of a pharaoh's tomb since Tutankhamun over a century ago — adds interest to lot 542, a set of 20 lithographs of Egypt and Nubia (€800-€1,200).
These are by Louis Haghe, maple framed in landscape and portrait form and dated 1838. The selection of art includes work by Sean Keating and Fergus O'Ryan and there is a selection of antique furniture and collectibles,
Viewing continues in Castlecomer next Monday and Tuesday from 9.30am to 5pm each day and the catalogue is online.
