Advertising signage has a niche market among collectors, who are often willing to pay a few thousand euro for certain pieces of pub and shop memorabilia. Fans of such items should check out the catalogue for the upcoming online-only auction at Victor Mee Auctions based in Cloverhill, Co Cavan, on Tuesday and Wednesday, August 19th and 20th, from 6pm each evening.
The auction of more than 1,000 lots is a tribute to a bygone era when advertising was a physical art form in which sign writers and designers honed their skills on metal and glass.
One of the most expensive estimates in the auction, at €3,000-€5,000, is for a mirror advertising Bendigo cigarettes in an art nouveau style.
“These mirrors were made as luxury advertising pieces, often displayed in tobacconists, grocers and public houses in the early 1900s,” says Mee. The maker of the mirror with hand-gilded lettering was A&H Pemberton, a Liverpool glass and sign manufacturer. A smaller mirror advertising the same brand went under the hammer at Fonsie Mealy’s auctions for €1,600 in May last year.
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A more unusual sign advertising the chemical fertiliser, Hibernian Manure (€200-€400), might be of interest to an agricultural museum. Depicting a gentleman farmer engaging with a formally dressed saleswoman, it promises financial success to those who apply it to their land. Such was the importance attributed to promoting their products that in the 1930s, the manufacturers of the fertiliser offered a prize of £3 to anyone who could illustrate scenes that could be used in their advertising.
The Victor Mee auction also includes a set of 12 framed advertising prints explaining “The Gentle Art of Making Guinness” (€500-€800). This whimsical series was originally produced by Guinness in the mid-20th century under the creative direction of John Gilroy, the artist behind Guinness’s most iconic campaigns.
At an online auction set to take place on Saturday, August 30th, Lynes & Lynes auction rooms in Carrigtwohill, Co Cork, also have some old advertising signs from Musgrave Brothers depicting scenes of Cork, such as the Metropole Hotel on MacCurtain Street (€60-€100 each).
“The printed sign shows the Musgrave Brothers’ head office on Cornmarket Street and at the base it shows the Metropole Hotel, with the Musgrave sweet factory behind. These are old signs and we expect good Cork interest,” says Denis Lynes.
The auction also has some noteworthy historic pieces of furniture from Montenotte House in Cork city. Montenotte House is a Georgian end-terrace home with magnificent views over the river Lee from the city’s sought-after southern suburb of the same name.
There is also a selection of 26 antique dolls (€100-€200 each) up for auction. Viewing of items runs from Saturday, August 23rd, to Friday, August 29th, from 10am-5pm daily.
National Heritage Week
An interest in buying antiques and art often coincides with an interest in local history, so many buyers and sellers will no doubt be considering attending some events during National Heritage Week, which begins on August 16th.
The free talks – in person and online – from the Crawford Art Gallery about the conservation of The Goose Girl by Edith Somerville (1858-1949) will be of interest to collectors of historic paintings.
Somerville’s painting – not to be confused with the National Gallery’s Goose Girl painting, originally believed to be by Irish artist William Leech but later confirmed to have been painted by English artist Stanley Royle – depicts a young west Cork girl sitting on the floor holding a goose. Looking particularly sad, she is surrounded by vegetables and cooking utensils, which give the impression that the goose is destined for a tasty dinner.
Somerville was born on the Greek island of Corfu but spent much of her life in Castletownshend in west Cork. Her painting echoed the French peasant realism style of the era. Although better known as one half of writing duo, Somerville and Ross, Somerville was also an accomplished artist, a suffragist and a progressive farmer who introduced the first herd of Friesian cattle to Ireland.
The painting – which is one of the Crawford art gallery’s most popular – is now in need of crucial conservation work. Italian conservator Chiara Chillè, registrar Jean O’Donovan and curator Michael Waldron will explain the processes involved in talks being held on Tuesday, August 19thb at 1pm at the Civic Trust House in Cork City, and online on Wednesday, August 20th at 1pm.
The Crawford Art Gallery closed to the public in September 2024 for major redevelopment but events such as these aim to keep the public connected to the collections therein.
Meanwhile, Ann Chumbley, the collections registrar for the Butler Gallery in Kilkenny, will give a behind-the-scenes look at how to care and conserve art works at the gallery on Tuesday, 1pm-2.30pm.
What it sold for
Dari 130 Bass from Ken Hopkins accordion collection
Estimate £3,000-£4,000
Hammer price £3,900 (€4,508)
Auction house Ross’s Auctioneers
Christian Dior vintage canvas patchwork saddle bag
Estimate €400-€500
Hammer price €952
Auction house Adams Blackrock
Platinum emerald and diamond cluster ring
Estimate €850-€950
Hammer price €2,024
Auction house Adams Blackrock
Platinum diamond bar brooch
Estimate €300-€400
Hammer price €500
Auction house Adams Blackrock
