Letter linked to historic flight may fetch £1,500

More than 1,500 lots of stamps and postal history material are due to be sold today at Whyte's at the company's Marlborough Street premises in Dublin. Among the items a collection of pioneer airmail letters to and from Ireland, with a total value of £30,000, has been split into over 300 lots.

These include an 1870 letter to Dublin written during the siege of Paris and carried by balloon across Prussian army lines (£1,200) and a letter borne by Alcock and Brown on the first transatlantic flight in 1919 from Newfoundland to Clifden, Co Galway (£1,500). There are a number of scarce Irish items in this sale, such as a first-day postcard from 1870 valued at £700, a sheet of 1907 Sinn Fein stamps (£500), a sheet of 240 1922 10 pence stamps (£1,800) and a block of four 1922 10 shilling stamps (£1,200). What may be a unique block of six 1974 5p stamps, purchased recently for 40p, is expected to sell for £1,500.

A sale for homeowners seeking cheap antiques

Homeowners looking for inexpensive items of antique furniture will be interested in viewing the 300-plus lots coming up at an auction in Hamilton Osborne King's Blackrock premises next Wednesday. Many of these carry very low estimates and while some pieces are certain to exceed expectations, the majority will probably not sell for more than £1,000.

Among the few certain to do so are a late 19th century mahogany and ebony line-inlaid drop-leaf sofa table (£1,000-£1,500) and an Irish early 19th century mahogany sideboard (£1,400-£1,800). A mid-19th century rectangular mahogany library table should fetch £1,200-£1,600, an early 20th century mahogany and parcel gilt library table in the Georgian style has an estimate of £800-£1,400 and an 18th century mahogany estate cabinet may sell for £800-£1,200. An early 19th century mahogany sideboard bearing a Strahan & Co storage label has an estimate of £500-£700 and a late 19th century mahogany three-tier dumb waiter is expected to fetch £500-£800.