Diamonds, Easter Rising memorabilia and vintage shop fittings – this week in the salerooms

Forthcoming at Sheppard’s, a newly-discovered eve-of-execution letter written by Kevin Barry in Mountjoy Jail, €20,000-€30,000

Auction results

Wednesday (April 25th) O'Reilly's Auction Rooms, 126 Francis Street, Dublin 8

Fine jewellery, watches and silver. Lot 307, sapphire and diamond cluster ring, one oval sapphire of 3.90ct with gem report, mounted with diamonds of approx. 0.90ct in total, €12,500 (€12,500-€14,500).  Lot 155, diamond line bracelet, set throughout with rectangular step cut diamonds of approx. 12.75ct, mounted in 14ct white gold, €12,000 (€11,000-€16,000).  Lot 76, diamond solitaire ring with baguette-cut diamond shoulders, €9,000 (€8,000-€10,000). Lot 74, diamond solitaire ring with HRD cert stating the diamond to be 1ct D VS1, mounted in platinum €6,500 (€6,500-€8,500). For more results see oreillysfineart.com

Tuesday (April 24th) Adam's, 26 St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2

History Sale. Gross total €140,000, 70 per cent of lots sold.

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Lot 77, American war of Independence poem in praise of Sir William Howe, 5th Viscount in the Irish peerage and commander-in-chief, north America, 1775-1778, single sheet folio printed on one side, €6,500 (€1,000-€1,500). Lot 126, 1916 Defence of Trinity College cup silver presentation cup awarded to Private Garnet Douglas King, €5,000 (€2,000-€3,000). Lot 19, pair of duelling pistols by Obadiah Wisdom of Drogheda, €4,600 (€3,500-€5,000). Lot 30, silver snuff box presented to Samuel Gray for the defence of Ballybay, Co Monaghan from “Popish demagogues” in 1828, €4,000 (€3,000-€5,000).

Lot 123, set of medals awarded to Mr Miceal O’Riordan including the 1916 Easter Rising medal, the rare 1966 Easter Rising Survivors Medal, and 1921 War of Independence medal and the 1971 War of Independence Survivors medal, €4,400 (€4,000-€6,000). Lot 129, a pair of Belleek “Second Period” “Michael Collins” portrait vases, €2,600 (€2,500-€3,500). Lot 67, a 15th-century carved stone head described as depicting Catherine de Valois (€20,000-€30,000), not sold.  Lot 120, a photograph of the nurse Elizabeth O’Farrell in her Cumann na mBan uniform (€3,000-€5,000), withdrawn.  For more results see adams.ie

Forthcoming Auctions

Sunday (April 29th) Hegarty's Auction Rooms, Bandon, Co Cork.

General auction to include furniture, paintings and jewellery; lot 20, three-stone diamond ring in yellow and white gold, €18,000-€24,000.

Strong collection of Irish glass including lot 39, a late 18th-century spirit decanter, €400-€800. Lot 115, pair of mid-century style leather tub armchairs, €1,500-€1,700.   Viewing today 12pm-5pm and tomorrow 12pm-4pm, auction 4pm. hegartyantiques.com

Tuesday and Wednesday (May 1st and 2nd) Victor Mee Auctions Ltd, Cloverhill, Co Cavan.

Contents of three Victorian shops: a chemist’s from Tipperary, with mahogany counters, cabinets, apothecary drawers and glass labels; a bar, with antique bar stools and a collection of Guinness ads; and the contents of the last original Irish tobacco shop, Cigar Divan, which traded in Carlow town from the 1800s to 2008. Plus rare Irish whiskies, whiskey mirrors and an extremely rare pictorial Paddy Old Irish Whiskey Cork Distillers enamel sign. The shop premises have been recreated at Victor Mee’s Cloverhill auction rooms: viewing until Monday, 11am-6pm; antique furniture and decorative objects sale Tuesday at 5.30pm; shop interiors auction Wednesday at 5.30pm. victormeeauctions.ie

Thursday (May 3rd) Sheppard's Irish Auction House, Durrow, Co Laois.

"Revolution: The Irish Revolution and Beyond: Artefacts, Letters, and Mementos" auction May 3rd at 10.30am. Lot 3, a newly-discovered eve-of-execution letter written by Kevin Barry in Mountjoy Jail €20,000-€30,000;  Lot 32,  an 18th century book, Farriery Improv'd – Or, A Compleat Treatise Upon the Art of Farriery accompanied by a letter from Seán Mac Eoin, dated 1962, in which he states that it "was given to me by Michael Collins when he returned from Treaty Talks in London in '21" (Collins was in London in 1921 leading the Irish delegation which secured Independence) €4,000-€6,000;   Lot 40, a metal cross reputedly placed on the exact spot where Michael Collins died in Béal na Bláth in west Cork as a temporary commemorative memorial and, apparently, removed in 1926 after being "desecrated by Irregular Troops who used it as for Target Shooting"  €8,000-€12,000. For online catalogue and bidding details see sheppards.ie

Saturday (May 5th) Whyte's, 38 Molesworth Street, Dublin 2. 

“The Eclectic Collector” sale. Lot 96, uniform headgear of General Sir John Grenfell Maxwell, sent to Dublin to suppress the 1916 Rising (€2,000-€3,000); lot 117, vanity case which belonged to Michael Collins’s fiancee Kitty Kiernan (€3,000-€5,000); lot 141, 1942 merchant marine medal for Dublin sailor lost at sea (€1,000-€1,500). Viewing at Whyte’s Wednesday to Friday, 10am-5pm daily, auction at Freemason’s Hall, Molesworth St, May 5th at 11am. For online catalogue and bidding details see whytes.ie

Arminta Wallace

Arminta Wallace

Arminta Wallace is a former Irish Times journalist