Forthcoming Auctions

Regency bookcase may fetch £12,000

While there are items of silver, china and glass as well as paintings among the 430-plus lots in next Tuesday's sale at Sheppard's of Durrow, Co Laois, the primary focus on this occasion is furniture. Not many of these pieces are of Irish origin, but there is a very fine 18th-century Dublin longcase clock in mahogany from the hands of Philip Glasco & Son, which carries an estimate of £3,500£5,500, and a handsome and well-carved Irish mahogany side table. The latter has a relatively low estimate of £2,000£3,000. There are a number of bookcases in this sale and they always find ready bidders. This should certainly be the case for a Regency mahogany breakfront secretaire bookcase (£12,000£18,000), as well as a more elaborately decorated mahogany bookcase in neo-classical style (£8,000£12,000). A less expensive price should be secured for a Victorian mahogany bookcase, which is expected to make £2,000£3,000. Demi-lune side tables are other items which are constantly in demand. Among those on offer next week are a Georgian pair in mahogany, and crossbanded in satinwood (£1,800£2,500), and another Regency pair in mahogany with boxwood ebony banded frieze (£1,800£2,500). Equally appealing is a Georgian mahogany and inlaid library table (£3,500£5,000). A slightly later rosewood library table carries an estimate of £3,000£4,000.

Among dining chairs for sale is a set of 10 William IV railback examples (£3,500£5,500) and another set of 10, this time Victorian mahogany and balloon-backed (£2,000£3,000). Two other lots which ought to perform well are a William IV mahogany side table (£2,500£3,500) and an 18th-century Italian carved giltwood console table with faux marble top (£4,000-£6,000).

Stone door surround with arched top on offer

September's furniture and fine art auction at Drum's of Malahide takes place next Thursday evening, when one of the most interesting lots is a Portland stone door surround. Still with its arched top, it originally came from a Dublin property but has been in storage for the past two decades and now requires some restoration.

Understandably, because such items do not often come up for sale, Denis Drum is cautious about giving an estimate for the lot; however, he imagines it will sell in the region of £1,000£2,000.

In the same sale, a Victorian mahogany secretaire bookcase with pigeon holing and birdseye maple drawers is expected to fetch £1,200£1,500, a pair of Kingswood single-door empire-style vitrine cabinets has an estimate of £800£1,200 - the same estimate as both a French ormolu-mounted bureau plat desk and a Georgian bow-front serving table with string inlay and drawers - and a late Victorian two-door ebony and walnut cabinet with ormolu mounts is estimated at £800£1,000.

Linen presses for up to £2,500 in Mullen's sale

Linen presses are among the lots on sale next Monday at Mullen's of Laurel Park, with a Victorian mahogany example on chest expected to fetch £800£1,200, while another Sheraton-style satinwood bowfront press, again on chest, has a higher estimate of £1,500£2,500. Satinwood and mahogany, as so often at auctions here, are the two main woods. So, there is a satinwood painted china cabinet (£2,200£2,800) and an Edwardian satinwood painted mural bureau (£1,000-£1,500), together with a mahogany bureau bookcase (£1,800£2,200) and a Victorian mahogany dining table (£5,000£6,000). But there is also a Regency rosewood card table (£800£1,000), an oak small chest of drawers (£300£500), a walnut gateleg table (£1,200£1,400) and even a beech canterbury (£450-£550).

George II open armchair for £8,000-plus

Furniture of Irish interest comes up for sale at Christie's in London next Thursday. Among the lots is an Irish George II mahogany and oak open armchair with an estimate of £8,000£11,450. Previously part of the Parker Knoll collection, records show this chair was sold for £50 sterling in April 1917. A set of 12 Irish mahogany dining chairs, formerly owned by a "J.S.S. Mowbray Esq, Killeany, Queen's County, Ireland" is expected to make £5,700£9,100 and a Regency mahogany sofa table with the same provenance has an estimate of £2,800-£4,500. An Irish George III mahogany kneehole desk signed by Edward Croby of Cork and dated January 1772 should sell for £4,500£6,800, while a set of six Irish mahogany dining chairs, three from the George II period and the others later, carries an estimate of £3,400£5,700.