Bureau plat fetches £4,000 at Ileclash sale

Hamilton Osborne King's sale of contents at Ileclash, Co Cork, on Tuesday saw a 19th-century bureau plat go under the hammer for £4,000. A seascape by George M. Wheatley Atkinson fetched £3,200 and a mid-18th century baluster-shaped hammered mug, thought to be made by Thomas Lynch of Galway, went for £3,000.

Among the furniture, the day's second best price of £2,600 was made by a set of eight mahogany dining chairs dating from circa 1900; this was the same figure as that achieved for a hand-coloured map of the east and south coast of Ireland. An early 19thcentury rosewood and gilt brass-mounted chiffonier side cabinet fetched £100 less. Other prices included: £2,400 for a mahogany slopefront bureau bookcase, dating from circa 1800; £2,200 for both a mahogany and satinwood banded writing table, circa 1900, and a collection of sea charts; £2,000 for a 19th-century rosewood side cabinet; and £1,900 for a 17thcentury hand-coloured map of Ireland's four provinces.

Side table almost doubles its estimate

The new R.J. Keighery auction rooms opened in Waterford city early last week with a sale at which a side table with a brassmounted Egyptian head sold for £11,000, almost twice its top estimate. No other single lot approached this figure, but a set of 14 mahogany dining chairs fetched the solid price of £3,400, a Victorian mahogany ovalend dining table with leaves went for £3,200 and an inlaid chest on chest with sunburst base made £2,400. Future auctions will be held in these rooms every six weeks.

Private buyers to the fore in Kilkenny

Kilkenny auctioneer Loughlin Bowe sold a late 17th/early 18th century chest of drawers for £3,450 at an auction he conducted on Monday at Wandesforde House, Castlecomer. Private buyers predominated at this sale, where a small Georgian urn stand made £1,725, a set of six simulated rosewood dining chairs sold for £900 and a Victorian satinwood wall bracket fetched £750.

Top price of £14,000 for Italian fountain

An Italian bronze fountain, its basin supported by four female figures and the whole piece standing more than seven foot tall, made the day's best price of £14,000 at a Mullen's of Laurel Park auction earlier this week.

It was purchased by a private buyer, as was a pair of terracotta urns and covers, which sold for £11,400, and a Regency rosewood and brass-inlaid sofa table (£4,700). A pair of Chinese bronze figures of cranes made £4,500, as did a 19thcentury Irish giltwood overmantel mirror. A Victorian mahogany breakfront bookcase fetched £3,200.