This 3in (7.5cm) diameter freedom box, awarded to Marquis Wellesley by the City of Cork and marked for Carden Terry and Jane Williams, Dublin 1822, attracted seven telephone bidders and eventually sold to S.J. Phillips for £35,000, three times the upper estimate, at Sotheby’s South (15/10 per cent buyer’s premium) on January 29.
Two days later at the Salisbury salerooms of Woolley and Wallis, a gadrooned, trumpet foot salver with a contemporary armorial by Joseph Walker, Dublin 1701, measuring 14in (35.5cm) diameter, trebled expectations by selling to the London trade for £18,500 (plus 15 per cent premium).
3in (7.5cm) diameter freedom box
UK: In a week when the Irish government was criticised by the European Central Bank for failing to control inflation, early Irish gold and silver soared to unprecedented heights in the UK salerooms.
