Collector ‘explosion’ to boost antique fair

More than 12,000 people are expected to attend the three-day Irish Antique Dealers Association (IADA) annual fair, which opens at the RDS in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, on Friday. The annual event will see thousands of items of fine art and antiques on display and for sale.

Last year, visitors to the fair spent €3.6 million, and organisers are hoping that the improving economy will lead to increased spending in 2014. They cite a “renewed interest in antiques as investments, with the money markets and ‘blue-chip’ stocks having failed so many Irish people in recent years”.

IADA spokesman Niall Mullen said that "the antiques business has undergone a massive transformation in the past decade", with a big decline in sales of "brown furniture" offset by "an explosion of interest in collectibles". Items in the fair have been "fully vetted" and are offered "at prices that are affordable and compare very favourably with the modern/contemporary alternative".

Mullen added that antiques could also be a good investment and, “unlike a [share] certificate, when you buy an object of beauty you possess a tangible item to enjoy and admire”.

There will be a huge selection of antiques – in all price categories – at the fair, catering to almost every type of collector. Mullen, himself an antiques dealer, will be showcasing items from his Francis Street shop, which specialises in Art Deco. These include a nude bronze figure of a dancer, made in 1920 and signed by Swiss sculptor Carl Binder, priced at €4,700, and an Art Nouveau gilt bronze figure of a “balancing girl”, made in 1910 and signed by German sculptor Julius Schmidt-Felling, for €2,200.

Collectors of Irish silver can see an exceptionally rare item at Weldons of Dublin’s stand: a Georgian Irish wicker-handled, silver saffron teapot, made in Dublin, circa 1750, which is “about the size of a golfball because the high price of saffron meant that only minute quantities could be brewed” (€15,000).

While "brown furniture" may be largely out of fashion, exceptional pieces can still attract high prices. "A superb example of craftsmanship and a rare piece of Irish history" is how Yeats Country Antiques describes a 19th-century dressing case made by Austin's of St Andrew's Street, Dublin suppliers to the viceregal court.

The elaborate piece of furniture, priced at €9,500, is veneered in coromandel wood and is inlaid with a highly ornate central brass shield bearing an inscribed monogram with intertwined initials and dual family crests.

The interior is lined in burgundy velvet and partitioned into multiple sections containing original hobnail-cut glass bottles and cases with solid silver lids hallmarked by Frances Douglas, London 1855, and stamped “Austin’s, Dublin”.

Among the antique jewellery at this year's fair, Courtville Antiques, of the Powerscourt Townhouse Centre, is selling a pair of natural seed pearl pendant earrings, made circa 1830, of the type worn by guests to Queen Victoria's wedding to Prince Albert in 1840, in "mint condition", for €2, 295, and a natural saltwater pearl necklace with an Art Deco platinum, ruby and marquise diamond clasp, for €5,995.

According to Courtville, "natural pearls are an extremely rare commodity due to overfishing and pollution, and it is very difficult to find good-sized, quality examples" . A natural pearl and diamond brooch, made in 1910 by Swedish jeweller Nordiska Compania, in its original fitted case, is €4,995.

Among the art for sale is a selection, from the Enniskerry, Co Wicklow-based Whitley Art Gallery, of lithographs, Japanese woodblock prints and etchings, including Self-Portrait with Hand to her Forehead, by German artist Käthe Kollwitz, dating from the late 1920s (€5,250).

In all, some 57 antiques dealers will exhibit at the fair, although, due to unforeseen circumstances, two regular exhibitors, Vanessa Parker Rare Books and Roger Grimes Antiques, will be absent this year.