15,000 visitors expected at RDS antiques fair

"A good piece of furniture, picture or a small piece of silver, even from a mercenary point of view, is a good investment, but more important, it is surprising what even one single beautiful object can do to adorn our everyday lives". That was the advice given to visitors attending the Irish Antique Dealers' Fair at the RDS in Dublin in 1969 by then minister for finance Charles J Haughey – a man who appreciated the finer things in life.

Haughey was given a gift – an exquisite piece of Irish silver – by the fair’s organisers and he praised “the growing appreciation of beautiful things as a reflection of rising standards of living and education”.

Organisers of this year's fair have invited Minister for Arts Heather Humphreys as their VIP guest. They expect about 15,000 people to attend the three-day event which opens to the public on Friday and continues on Saturday and Sunday.

George Stacpoole, chairman of the Irish Antique Dealers Association (IADA), who has been at the fair every year since its inception 50 years ago, said that during the past five decades, "people have been attending the fair to discover something different, that magical piece that can make a home".

There is a huge selection of items on display – and for sale – at the 50 stands, ranging from antique Irish and English silver at Danker Antiques to Victorian paintings at Kilkenny Fine Art and Niall Mullen’s latest Art Déco finds. From a random selection, Galway antiques shop Cobwebs has an emerald and diamond three-stone Victorian ring (€7,500); Courtville Antiques of the Powerscourt Townhouse Centre in Dublin’s South William Street, a “Victorian 18 carat gold watch set with diamonds and pearls, made circa 1900, (€2,295) and John Brereton Jewellers, a late 19th-century 18 carat gold “Celtic-inspired” French bracelet decorated with a shamrock motif interspersed with diamonds and emeralds and described as “a unique treasure that’s full of [Irish] national character” priced at €7,950.

Connaught Antiques of Francis Street, Dublin, is showing “an exceptional pair of Regency mahogany console tables attributed to Mack, Williams & Gibton” made circa 1820 and formerly in Ballyward House, Co Down, the hunting lodge of the Earls Of Belmont (no price supplied). Dublin’s Timepiece Antiques will be showing “an important Irish Huguenot clock” made by Paul Pineau of Dublin, circa 1745, which it discovered at an auction in Scotland earlier this year.

There is also likely to be considerable interest in silver, gold and antique jewellery specialist Jimmy Weldon of Clarendon Street, Dublin, who will be showing a gold key, made in 1922 for the reopening ceremony of Clery's department store in Dublin (rebuilt after being destroyed in the 1916 Rising), valued at about €12,000.

The fair also includes a programme of lectures by, among others, BBC Antiques Roadshow experts Judith Miller, author of Miller's Antiques Handbook & Price Guide, and Mark Hill, who at 1pm on Friday will speak about Our Favourite Things and What We Found at the Fair at 1pm on Saturday.

A full programme of the three-day series of lectures can be found on association's website (iada.ie) but among other highlights are: My Life and Times as a Fashion Designer and Art Dealer by Ib Jorgensen on Friday at 4pm; Diamonds, What Makes Them Sparkle by jeweller Paul Brereton on Saturday at 4pm; Irish Furniture by Eoin Ryan at noon on Sunday; and Till Death do us Part, the Cult of Mourning Jewellery in the Georgian Era by Zara Power on Sunday at 2pm. A full programme of lectures is available online at iada.ie.