Dublin two-day event opens at RDS today

The 11th Dublin antiques and fine arts fair is being held today and tomorrow at the RDS. Organiser Louis O'Sullivan expects visitors will find this a popular source of Christmas gifts, thanks to the variety of dealers from around the Republic who are expected.

Among participants are Carol O'Connor and George Stacpoole of Adare, Co Limerick, Westport's clock specialist, Jonathan Beech, John Farrington and Roxane Moorhead from Dublin and Pat Jones's Georgian Antiques of Cork. The fair opens on both days at 11 a.m.

43 dealers make tracks to trains and toys fair

The Dublin toy and train fair is being held tomorrow at its customary venue, the Rochestown Lodge Hotel, Dun Laoghaire from 11 a.m. Some 43 dealers from Ireland and abroad will occupy close to 70 tables. There are to be two rooms at the event, filled with collectable items of all kinds, such as Corgi and Dinky toys, Meccano construction sets, Triang and Hornby trains, plus antique dolls, teddy bears, film annuals from the 1940s onwards and jigsaws.

French furniture and jewellery at the Green

Among the wealth of fairs taking place tomorrow in the Dublin region is one in Newman House, St Stephen's Green, where a small selection of French furniture and architectural items will be for sale. There is also to be a selection of antique jewellery, such as a Victorian emerald and diamond crescent brooch, as well as dealers offering stamps, postcards and railway memorabilia.

Old theatre programmes get in on the act

The next Dublin Castle antiques and collectors fair will be held tomorrow from 10.30 a.m. Items of interest include medical prints from the 18th and 19th century, costume jewellery from the 1930s and 1940s, old programmes from the Olympia and Gaiety Theatres and silver tableware.