Powerstown House auction the genuine article

HAMILTON Osborne King's forthcoming sale at Powerstown House in Clonee, Co Meath, is sure to attract a substantial number of bidders on July 9th. Good house contents sales have been few and far between this year, and, judging from the catalogue, this is an interesting auction, with plenty of fine furniture, silver, porcelain, paintings and books.

The owners of Powerstown, Mr Raymond Keogh and his wife, have been avid auction-goers for many years, building up an impressive collection of both precious and beautiful things, as well as quirky items that took their fancy.

Now they are selling up to move to a smaller house in the area, and most of their collection is included in the auction. This makes it a genuine house auction, with the majority of the lots belonging to Powerstown.

One thing the Keoghs are not selling, however, is their collection of auction catalogues of big house sales over the decades, which must make fascinating reading.

Raymond Keogh was a former Joint master of the Ward Union stag hunt, and, as one would expect, there is plenty of hunting and horsey memorabilia, as well as some fine horse pictures. Two oils by Henry Frederick Lucas Lucas, The Horse Countess in a Stable and Portrait of a Horse in a Stable, carry estimates of £1,000-£1,500 each.

Among the furniture lots, a pair of 18th century Milanese walnut and marquetry chests has a top estimate of £30,000. An 18th century Irish satinwood demi-lune, with rosewood and harewood inlay, is expected to sell for £6,000-£8,000. A satinwood, crossbanded and painted D-shaped display cabinet, dating from the early 20th century, has a top estimate of £4,000, and a mahogany breakfront bookcase has a guide price of £4,000-£6,000.

Open bookshelves always sell well and lot 250 should be no exception. It's a handsome mahogany set of graduated shelves; very useful and lovely to look at, it has a top estimate of £1.600.

There are quantities of china on offer, including full and part dinner services. The best of these is a vast Ridgeway dinner service, dating from 1840, with a white background decorated with flower and gilded edges. It has 156 pieces in all, including 58 dinner plates. The estimate is £3,000-£5,900. To complete the dining experience, a large service of silver, Lot 167, made in Dublin in 1827, is estimated at £8,000-£10,000. A Staffordshire fruit service, in powder pink and gold, that originally came from Malahide Castle could fetch up to £1,200.

Those with only a £100 or so to spend won't go home empty-handed. Cheaper lots include old armchairs and tables, prints and paintings, riding breeches and pink coats, spurs and hunting boots, copper pans and fish kettles, boxes of crockery and glassware, a croquet set and an iron strong box stamped with ER and the English Royal Crown (£100-£200), a tin box with an old legal wig (£30-£5O), a chauffeur's livery dating from 1914 (£50-£1OO) and a quantity of old sewing machines (£60-£90).

For about £100 more you could buy a 19th century mahogany medicine chest, in good condition and with its fitted interior still holding an array of bottled potions and powders. Also enclosed is a recipe book of William Middleton, inscribed Mullingar 1856. It could sell for well over its estimate of £200-£300.

No country house sale is complete without an ancient rocking-horse and Lot 633 is a nice one, made by Lines Bros around 1909. It was once part of the display in Bradleys Childrens Shop in Nassau Street, Dublin. It has an estimate of £200-£300.