Ireland

The contents of the Bishop’s House in Newry, standing on the Clanrye river in counties Down and Armagh, were sold by Victor Mee (20% buyer’s premium) earlier this year.

Over 300 watercolours were produced for each one of the 60 copies of a remarkable ornithological work

During the 1860s the South Kensington Museum in London (now the Victoria and Albert Museum) campaigned to have electrotypes made of important historic artefacts.

Blessed with a classical education, a gift for drawing and his father’s fortune, the English militiaman and antiquary Francis Grose (1731-91) is best known for his Views of Antiquities in England and Wales, published in several volumes between 1772-76.

Dealer who has run a major Irish fair for 35 years feels Georgian furniture is starting to rise in value

The Fonsie Mealy Chatsworth Summer Rare Books & Collectables Sale on July 30-31 includes a private collection of works by Jack B Yeats, The Cuala Press and modern Irish and English literature.

Serpenti jewels, which followed the launch of Bulgari’s signature gold Tubogas bracelets in the late 1940s, were featured in Vogue and other fashion magazines on countless occasions in the Sixties.

Irish art sales rated as ‘very good’ despite some supply challenges as private collectors wait to consign

Tristram Hillier (1905-83) described the Surrealist pictures he created at Étretat, the picturesque town on the north-western coast of France, as “some of the best I have ever made”.

A world atlas produced by a Dublin-born man who is considered the first US commercial publisher made its way to the Irish capital to be sold at auction house Adam’s (25% buyer’s premium).

A picture by the artist dubbed ‘the Irish Alfred Wallis’ soared above estimate to bring a record at Dublin saleroom Adam’s (25% buyer’s premium).

The bright blue iridescent feathers of the kingfisher have been used to decorate objects and jewellery and items of personal adornment for over 2000 years in China, where the birds are also known as jade or jadeite birds.

In Ireland, Adam’s of Dublin held 32 auctions over the course of 2023, raising a hammer total of €13.8m (£12m) which was up from €12.6m in 2022.

A “true gentleman”, who was “full of cheerfulness, good humour”, and with a “ready smile”, are some of the words used on rip.ie to describe the late George Mealy, who died on December 22.

The Christmas Rare Books & Collectors sale at Irish auction house Fonsie Mealy on December 12-13 includes No33 of only 150 copies in a limited special edition of Bog Poems by Seamus Heaney illustrated by Barrie Cooke (London, Rainbow Press, 1975).

Mother-and-daughter team start new event in Ireland with hopes for several others across the island