Auctioneers' guide to what to bid for in 1999

James O'Halloran of James Adam

In many ways this year's market will be no different to last year's and the year before. The market has not changed dramatically, except that people are much more interested in paying good money for the star lots, the quality lots in any auction. They have no problem going over the estimates because they know that these things will appreciate.

As far as trends go, there is definitely more interest in pictures than in furniture, and I can see that continuing. People are buying reproduction furniture but decent paintings, and that is an interesting development. The rate of appreciation for art is surpassing that of furniture. However, there are still plenty of people who are interested in good Irish furniture and good names are still making top prices. Interior decorators seem to be having a bigger influence. Decorators are strong buyers in the US and it was only a matter of time before we saw the trend starting here. In pictures there is tremendous interest in artists like Percy French, and, in general, Irish views. I would start buying similar works by less expensive artists like Alexander Williams, who should be on the rise. Harry Kernoff is doing remarkably well; he is going from strength to strength. From the more modern school, Liam Treacy and Martin Mooney are likely to appreciate and Barrie Cooke is becoming extremely popular. His works are becoming more rare and people see him as being the next major artist.

Sara Kenny of Hamilton Osborne King's Fine Art Department

Strong prices will continue when quality prevails, in particular for 18th and 19th-century furniture which is in good condition, pleasing to the eye and suitable for modern living. Furniture has shown a big increase in prices as the supply diminishes. Strong prices have been achieved for good Georgian and later furniture, in particular when it is by an Irish maker and in original condition - touched by human hands but not over-restored. Practicality, elegance and shapely curves - if you find them they are a good investment.

If you use Old Master paintings sales as a benchmark for picture values, then you could say the Irish picture market has gone mad. Certainly, a famous painting by a Renaissance artist would fetch an incalculable price, if such a thing should appear on the market, which is unlikely. But a standard Old Master sale mainly composed of 17th and 18th-century pictures containing good examples by well-known names, offers very good value in the £50,000£100,000 range, while £1 million buys you a museum quality picture. Compare this to £1.3 million for a Lavery, £1 million for Yeats and over £500,000 for Orpen.

However, local markets must be catered for and the Irish market is a strong local market. This has been the trend worldwide, with the "new" money buying national art. Ireland is still a small country and even by including "ex-pat" money it means the market, especially for Yeats, is very narrow. It is to be hoped that these pictures are being bought because they are liked, and not simply for investment.

When the market for Impressionists became concentrated, it produced a yo-yo effect, with values falling after indiscriminate investment and values determined not by the intrinsic merit of the work, but by the amount of surplus money around.

It is much better to buy the work of living artists - suit your tastes, back your judgement and help the artistic community. If your taste is conservative, pictures by T.P. Flanagan are lyrical and poetic, the visual counterpoint of the poems of his friend, Seamus Heaney. And they are ridiculously good value.

Finally, there are very few new trends in this traditional market, so when quality sings at you, buy it.

Peter Bateman of Edward Butler Antiques

THE general standard of furniture turning up at auction is not as good as it was. In an auction of 400 or so lots there is likely to be only four or five good things, the rest being really secondhand furniture. It is hard to accept that these are the quality items of the future.

However, for those who are going to buy I would say purchase Irish. With the Irish art market going up again, I would pick artists who are not fetching very high prices at the moment and then presume that they will rise in value with the tide. With the Celtic Tiger the way it is, truely Irish things are a good buy.

But whatever category you buy in make sure your item is in good condition. It is worth paying extra money for something that is perfect and without additions.

David Allen of Mullens

I would buy 19th-century Continental paintings because we feel that the Irish market for decorative 19th-century, signed paintings are undervalued compared with Irish art at the moment. Therefore there would be better growth potential. We have a bunch of paintings in each sale and they start at around £600£800 and go up to £2,000£3,000. For that you will get a nice decent wall filler. For the general buyer ( the majority of people) it is a fairly good market to look for.

Good clean pieces of furniture that are useful in a house - bureau bookcases, chairs and tables - have scope to rise in value. You can buy a nice bureau bookcase for £2,000£4,000. Always go for something as good and as clean as you can afford. If it is not in good condition, be prepared to get it restored by a reputable furniture restorer.

Tom Woodward of Joseph Woodward & Sons

Silver continues to be an extremely good investment, particularly Irish provincial silver, in particular Cork or Limerick. Silver flatware is not as good a buy, excepting ladles. There is a good market for ladles and cake servers, sauce boats and sugar bowls. When buying silver make sure that the condition of the mark is good; the better the mark, the better the piece. If you buy furniture, make sure it is in good solid condition with a nice patina. Buy what you like and what you could live with. It doesn't have to be extremely old. Solid turn-of-the-century furniture, say from the 1920s, can be very well made and is still low in price compared with older pieces.

John de Vere of de Vere Art Auctions

There is no reason to believe the art market will slow down. Irish art prices have just about crawled back up to where they were in 1989/1990. Far more people are interested in it now than in recent years and so more people have come into the market. There is an added incentive in that money is relatively useless if you keep it in the bank. Art tends to chase house prices; people are living in more expensive houses and now they want something on the walls, so there is a growing captive market. Two factors have increased the market: those who were bitten in the last boom have had to wait until now to sell their paintings, and the reduction in capital gains tax has encouraged people to sell their important paintings.

The future in Irish art is in the contemporary field. Relative to what dead artists are fetching, there is great value to be had in living painters. I always told people to buy Charlie Brady when his paintings were selling for £600£700. In our last sale we sold one for £12,000.

I would advise people to buy something by Sean McSweeney, who is painting better than he ever has. John Shinner is very affordable and both Michael Farrell and Charlie Tyrell are major Irish painters. They represent far better value to the public than the established names of yesteryear, who are fetching thousands of pounds.

Sculpture is undervalued - a work by Melanie Le Brocquy at £1,100 is relatively good value.

Satch Kiely of Westport

THE trend in 1999 is still for mahogany and rosewood 19th-century furniture, especially English Regency or early 19th-century pieces. There seems to be a trend towards lighter-coloured furniture. I have noticed that the under-40s are buying and are interested in Continental furniture, especially Beidermier-style fruitwoods. There has also been a renewed interest in Irish satinwood.

Jill Cox of Beaufield Mews Antiques

Porcelain coffee cans, like miniature mugs, are good items to collect. They are undervalued and some of them can be bought for half nothing. They were made by all the leading porcelain factories around 1800 - Derby, Minton, Doulton, Worcester and others. They are plentiful and you can build up a nice harlequin set - where they don't match - which looks even nicer than a matching set. They are hand-painted so that each one is different; you know the factory by the handle and each one has an individual style of painting. They range in price from £25 to £100 and one or two of them make very acceptable gifts. People do use them as they are still perfect on which to serve coffee.

Alternatively, 19th-century pub glasses or goblets - chunky stemmed glasses with a round bowl - can be had from around £20 upwards. They are perfect for wine and you can put them in the dishwasher.

Chantal Sullivan of Sullivan Antiques

With interest rates so low, people are putting a lot of money into "high-end" antiques, that is major items, simply because the banks are giving them no interest for their money. So I would be telling people to buy at the high end - dining tables and chairs, for instance, because they will always sell. You will get a very good set of dining chairs for £10,000.

Desks seem to be selling well at the moment; people definitely like the big old partners desks. I have sold a string of them recently. Another good buy is a small piece of furniture of good quality. Obviously, anything with a provenance is good, as people always like to have a big-name piece.

Big gilt mirrors are good value. You can buy these for £2,000 or £3,000, and at that they are a good buy. People tend to avoid them because they are big but they can be very good for a room. They cover a multitude and they make a space look bigger and lighter. One thing that I would not buy, however, is lacquered oriental pieces because so many of them are mass-produced in London, and it is almost impossible to tell the fake from the authentic.

Bernard Williams of Christie's, Edinbugh

There are two Irish artists who I feel should be good investments in 1999, Colin Middleton R.H.A. (1910-1983) and Patrick Hennessy (1915-1980). During the late 1940s and early 1950s Middleton produced some incredibly Surrealist paintings, which are just as stylish and precise as many works by Dali and Magritte.

The world auction record for a Middleton is a mere £26,450, whereas works by Daniel O'Neill have made over £50,000. I think that if a decent Middleton is offered on the market, it should exceed the O'Neill record as, globally speaking, he is by far the most important artist.

Again, Patrick Hennessy's world record is just £15,750, for a self-portrait sold in Kilkenny in March 1998. The way he painted his wonderful still-lives imitates the Dutch 17th-century painters, and his magnificent west of Ireland landscapes are far superior to similar views by Frank McKelvey, James Humbert Craig and Maurice Canning Wilks.

Watch out for these two in 1999.

Jim Gorry of The Gorry Gallery

THE artist Paul Kelly has changed and developed considerably since we held the last sale of his work five years ago. Since then he has been living on and off in the U.S. and his painting has come on tremendously. I would rate him as one of the best conceptual painters in the Republic. We are having a show of his work in March and I can't wait to get these paintings on the wall. They are superb.

Val Dillon of Antiques Collector

IF you like silver and it's good quality, then buy that. If you like furniture and it's good quality, that's a good investment too. As long as it is good then it is worth buying, but for anything of poor quality keep your money in the bank. It is vital to go for quality but unfortunately most people don't. In a recession you will still be able to sell quality items. If you buy junk, you will be stuck with it.