Ireland

This rare Irish provincial silver punch strainer took £14,000 at Lawrences’ latest sale in Crewkerne. Dated to c.1740-60, it is struck twice for Joseph Johns, one of only a handful of silversmiths working in Limerick in the middle of the 18th century.

Christie’s has agreed to withdraw seven pictures, including two by Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens, from its July 9 and 10 sales after owners the Alfred Beit Foundation asked to postpone their sale.

This late 19th century Native American outfit proved the highlight of Fonsie Mealy’s latest sale in Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny, when it sold for €320,000 (£246,150).

Lyon & Turnbull have been forced to postpone the sale of the contents of Bantry House, County Cork because of delays in obtaining a licence from the Property Services Regulatory Authority (PSRA) to hold the sale on the premises. The sale was scheduled to take place on October 21.

Lyon & Turnbull are to sell the contents of Bantry House, County Cork, one of the best-known historic houses in the Republic of Ireland.

UK dealers and auction houses have been alerted to the theft of six oil paintings by Evie Hone from a church in Ireland.

Fonsie Mealy Auctioneers are selling hundreds of items from Fort William, a quirky Tudor Revival-style mansion in Lismore, Co Waterford, Ireland.

If ever there was a single record that could lay claim to truly starting the Rock and Roll era, it must be Elvis Presley’s first single ‘That’s all right (Mama)’, recorded in Memphis in July 5, 1954.

The traditional pre-Christmas auctions in Dublin often see some of the best Irish art of the year on the market and, despite the sector still being tough going, a good number of works by leading names appeared this time round.

Executed c.1929, this abstract composition by Mainie Jellett (1897-1944) drew significant interest when it appeared at de Veres’ sale in Dublin on November 27.

The highly distinctive works on paper by William Conor (1884-1968) documenting working-class life in Ulster come up pretty regularly at auction, mainly because there are simply a lot of them around.

This portrait of Sinead O’Connor as a young girl was consigned to Whyte’s sale on November 26 by the singer herself.

Irish auctioneers Mealy’s have a 36-year history of collaborating with Christie’s to sell major collections and, although the crème de la crème may have been offered in London in May, their recent sale of the treasures at Mount Congreve, Co Waterford was far from a matter of crumbs from a rich man’s table.

Dublin fine art auctioneers James Adam believe uncertainty regarding the euro has helped rather than hindered the Irish art market.

DETAILS have emerged of a brutal and ruthlessly executed robbery which saw two armed men break into the home of an elderly art dealer in Northern Ireland on January 3.

IN a world where instant electronic communication and exchange of information is available to all, two lengths of original Morse code ticker-tape seem akin to tele-antiquities.

Becoming the most expensive painting ever sold in Ireland, A Fair Day, Mayo by Jack Butler Yeats (1871-1957) was knocked down at €1m (£917,430) at Adam's lastest sale in Dublin.

INTERNATIONAL Coin Exchange, a new firm of Dublin-based auctioneers, will hold their first sale on February 19.

IS there still life in the Irish art market? The auction record for a piece of sculpture by an Irish artist was broken at Adam's 140-lot sale of Irish art on October 14.

The Irish Government have decided to go the same way as the UK in not applying the Artist’s Resale Right (ARR) to the heirs of dead artists until 2012. The extension means that ARR will continue to apply to works by living artists only.