Cavan auctioneer Victor Mee has built up a strong reputation for selling offbeat stuff, such as advertising memorabilia, antique garden furniture and vintage agricultural machinery.
His next sale, live online from 3pm on Sunday, October 19th, will be filled with vernacular furniture, kitchen implements and even a few old metal tractor seats.
Vernacular furniture – also known as country furniture – refers to the everyday furniture used in rural homes in the 19th and 20th centuries. In Ireland, pine tables, dressers, wooden chairs, dowry chests and wardrobes – mostly made of pine – are the main pieces of vernacular furniture for sale in auctions.
Mee fell in love with it a long time ago. “I bought my first hedge chair in the 1970s for 50 pence and I’ve been enamoured ever since,” he says. “These pieces of furniture were born out of need and the pieces that survive today are like genuine historical artefacts.”
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Dressers remain popular for their original function – displaying the best crockery in the house – most of which was, and still is, only used for special occasions. There are a few dressers at the Mee auction, the best of which is a 19th-century painted pine dresser from Co Clare (€500-€800). It has three open shelves over a rows of short drawers and two lower cupboards with panelled doors.
The pine settle bed was another staple of vernacular furniture. Usually positioned close to the hearth, this high-backed seat provided storage and seating during the day but could be converted to a bed at night-time. The Mee auction includes an early 19th-century pine settle bed from Cork, covered in old flaky paint (€800-€1,200) and another stripped pine settle bed (€250-€450).
The 19th-century Irish pine dug-out chair is perhaps one of the more unusual lots (€1,000-€2,000). Dug-out chairs were exactly what you might think – a chair carved from a single trunk with the interior “dug out” for sitting on. It is crude and weathered looking, and Mee suggests it “speaks loudly of a forgotten era”.
Shop fittings – in particular sets of drawers – have become sought after by homeowners drawn to eclectic interior styles. There are a few sets of shop drawers in various sizes but the most noteworthy are two sets of 56 drawers in pine from the 1940s (€1,000-€2,000 each).
Auctions are also great places for picking up inexpensive crockery, and the Victor Mee auction has plenty of spongeware plates, platters, mugs and bowls from the 19th and 20th century. The set of six 19th-century spongeware soup bowls (€200-€400) are a good example of the style.
As a way of creating a pattern on pottery, spongeware was first developed in the 18th century, becoming popular in Britain, Ireland and the United States in the 19th and 20th century. The patterns are created by pressing shaped sponges dipped in coloured pigment into the earthenware clay plate, bowl, jug or mug.
This was a thriving cottage industry in the 19th century, and the pieces were often decorated at home by women before being glazed and refired in factories. Smudges, drips and variations in pattern added to the character, creating unique pieces. Contemporary potters such as Nicholas Mosse from Co Kilkenny were instrumental in reviving interest in spongeware techniques and designs.
Usher’s auction
Three books written and signed by Ireland’s first president, Douglas Hyde, are among the lots for sale at Usher’s auction on Monday, October 20th from 6pm.
The first edition books – Songs of St Columcille, The Children of Lir and The Children of Tuireann (€400-€700) – were published in the 1940s and are favourites among collectors. Hyde, who founded the Gaelic League, was a distinguished Gaelic scholar and author of many works, including A Literary History of Ireland. He was president from 1938 to 1945.
Most of the wide variety of books at Usher’s auction, on view Saturday and Sunday, October 18th and 19th, noon-5pm, belonged to the late Gearóid Mac Gabhann (Gerry Smith). The son of Cavan footballer Big Jim Smith, Mac Gabhann was the founding member of Kilmacud Crokes club in Dublin. He played club football and later was mentor, coach and manager of football, hurling and camogie teams at Kilmacud Crokes.
He was an accountant who worked as secretary manager for St Vincent’s hospital, Elm Park and later the Mater hospital. He was fluent in Irish and had a deep passion for Irish folklore, nature, political and local history, as this book collection testifies. The auction also includes manuscripts of religions from around the world, intriguing books on textiles and crafts. Many lots don’t have any estimates – leaving bidding completely open to interested parties.
As befitting of a passionate supporter of the GAA, Mac Gabhann’s collection also includes early GAA programmes, medals and other ephemera, many of which are signed.
John Weldon auction
John Weldon’s jewellery, watches and gold coin auction on Tuesday, October 21st, at 2pm, includes a lifetime’s collection of 48 pieces of Irish silver. These include a William IV Chinoiserie silver tea caddy made in Dublin in 1834 by James Fray (€1,000-€2,000), and an Irish silver crested two-handled cup by Robert Calderwood, made in the mid 18th century (€1,200-€1,800).
victormeeauctions.ie; usherauction.ie; jwa.ie
What did it sell for?
Mahogany drinks cabinet
Estimate €1,200-€1,800
Hammer price €1,200
Auction house Sheppard’s
Chinese Qing cabinets
Estimate €1,400-€1,800
Hammer price €1,300
Auction house Sheppard’s
Hermès silk scarf
Estimate €200 – €300
Hammer price €640
Auction house Adams Blackrock
Omega Seamaster quartz watch
Hammer price €1,600
Auction house Adams Blackrock
