Gorey Antiques Fair – Sat.21st June
The annual Gorey Antiques Fair takes place this Sunday at the Amber Springs Hotel, Wexford Road, Gorey. 11am – 6pm. Thirty dealers are due to attend with a selection of quality antique furniture, art, jewellery, collectables etc.
The hotel is a short distance from Gorey Main Street. Coming from the Dublin direction turn down The Avenue from Gorey Main Street, over the railway line and the hotel is a short distance ahead on the left-hand side. Worth a look – the Fair not the hotel!
ARKLOW MARKET
I know nothing about this new market – it was advertised in the Enniscorthy Guardian – but I will be up to check it out shortly. In the meantime these are the details as they appeared:
Arklow Market,
(formerly Morgan Doyle)
Main Street, Arklow, Co.Wicklow
Open: Fri/Sat/Sun and Bank Holiday Mondays. (12 Noon)
Over 50 stalls.
Further info: Debbie on (086) 852 6630
Kehoe’s, South Anne Street – another institution!
Whistlestop visit to Dublin.
Appropriately April 1st saw me visit the Capital to do one last check on antiques dealers for my forthcoming guide to collecting – now titled ‘Collect Ireland’ – and, as usual, some shops had closed down while others had moved location. At 88 Francis Street I called into the well stocked premises of Sean McGahan & Sons, in the business for more than 20 years, and can highly recommend his shop to anyone looking for high quality antique furniture. His stock is spread over two floors and every inch of space is crammed with really quality items – some superb bookcases, tables, and a Victorian display case of birds including a Crowned Crane that really took my fancy. These days I limit my collecting to more easily manageable (and affordable) items so resisted the urge to splash out €3,000 on the display case. A fine oil painting of a Belfast sailing ship which disappeared off South Africa in the 1890s on its maiden voyage (€1,500) also had to be declined, this time purely for financial reasons. Sean also undertakes furniture restoration work. A dealer who is genuinely enthusiastic about his stock is, these days, an endangered species in my opinion! Be sure to give him a call if you’re in the area.
Sean McGahan & Sons,
88 Francis Street,
Dublin.8.
(086) 258 1233
Open: 11/4 Mon-Fri.
On the way back to Dublin.2. I called to Caxton Prints, 63 Patrick Street (the last business in Ireland without a website – according to the proprietor) but worth a call nonetheless. His main stock is 16th/19th century prints. Another friendly, enthusiastic and knowledgeable dealer.
Caxton Prints,
63 Patrick Street,
Dublin.8.
(01) 453 0060
Open: 10.30/4.30 Mon-Sat.
Back on South Great Georges Street a visit to the Market Arcade is a must – two book dealers, a coin/militaria dealer and a small art gallery. Stokes Books and its proprietor, Stephen Stokes, are a Dublin institution and if it’s quality Irish books you’re after look no further. Rare editions on Irish history, transport, literature etc. line the shelves while outside shelves groan under the weight of vast numbers of bargain books all at rock bottom prices. Stephen is an avid book collector himself and if he doesn’t know the book you’re looking for – well it probably never existed!
Stokes Books,
Market Arcade,
Sth.Great Georges Street,
Dublin.2.
(01) 671 3584
Open: 11/6 Mon-Sat.
South East Salvage, Gorey, Co.Wexford
Despite the miserable weather today I had a chance to nip up to Gorey for a long promised visit to the premises of South East Salvage – a short distance out of town off the Courtown Road. A well stocked salvage yard with all the usual bricks, slates, timber, garden seats, pumps etc. and two showrooms of smalls, furniture and various other collectables but sadly no must-haves!
A display of reproduction railway signs adorned the office. Who is making these? Some are very crude and utterly worthless like this Dundalk, Newry & Greenore Railway sign pictured above – priced at €40 – the authentic version would be worth nearer to €1,500.
Apart from looking as fresh as a newly laid egg, another giveaway is that the Secretary’s name is from the Great Southern & Western Railway and NOT the Dundalk, Newry & Greenore Railway!
Verdict: Well worth a visit.
Collecting: Railway Letter Stamps
In the days when the Post Office held a complete monopoly of the mails it was possible for the private individual or business to also send post by rail, by affixing the normal postage stamp plus a railway company stamp and presenting it at their nearest station for forwarding by the next available service. This maintained the Post Office’s monopoly while producing a useful source of income for the railway companies. This system operated in the UK and Ireland from 1891 until 1947, and led to a wide variety of stamps being issued by the many independent railway companies.
These stamps are of interest to the specialist stamp collector as well to the railway enthusiast but despite their rarity they remain something of a Cinderella item and, as such, can still be bought quite cheaply. The unused block featured here were issued by the West Clare Railway Company in the 1890s and were purchased on eBay in 2004 for the paltry sum of €10. A very cheap way to begin a collection of genuine memorabilia from this long gone railway made famous by Percy French’s song “Are you right there Michael?”
Given the prices achieved by far more common Irish postage stamps there is only one way that these curiosities are going – so the message is don’t miss the boat! Apart form eBay these stamps turn up occasionally at the various Antiques Fairs around the country.
Gallery 29 – A Special Place!
Travel posters, particularly those from the 1920/50s are still a comparatively cheap way of acquiring the work of well known Irish artists such as Paul Henry, Maurice Wilks, Hugo d’Alesi and Norman Wilkinson. While prices have increased steeply in recent years with a Paul Henry poster of Lough Derg now costing anything up to €2,000 the original work would cost a six-figure sum. Some posters are now almost as rare as the original with few surviving – they were, after all, supposed to be pasted on to railway station noticeboards! A poster dating from circa 1900, commissioned by the Midland, Great Western Railway Company, featuring a spectacular montage of West of Ireland scenes by the artist F.Hugo d’Alesi fetched €3,500 at auction in England in 2001 – believed to be a record for an Irish travel poster.
Several companies now offer full size reproductions of classic posters, of varying quality, but they are a poor substitute for the original and have little or no resale value.
Gallery 29 offers an enormous range of original travel posters as well as general Irish & European advertising posters from the 1890s to the 1970s displayed in an Art Gallery style setting. Lithographic posters represent a seriously good investment and, properly looked after, will appreciate in value over the coming years. Be warned however, as these beautiful items are ‘must-haves’ and if you are bitten by the bug you’ll need to have deep pockets!
Gallery 29,
29 Molesworth Street, Dublin.2.
Tel: (01) 642 5784
Website: http://www.gallery29.ie/
Open: Tues/Sat. 10am-6pm
Keighery’s Waterford City Auctions
As I mentioned I arrived early having left home at 6am and after viewing the sale went looking for breakfast. One of the Keighery’s staff suggested that I try ‘The Park Lodge Cafe’ at the entrance to the nearby People’s Park . I have to say that it was like an oasis in the depressed city that Waterford has become – a veritable beacon of hospitality. The former Park Ranger’s house has been transformed into a cosy, welcoming place purveying all sorts of homemade dishes.
I opted for the Irish breakfast – and before long
I was sitting down to a fine, grease free, fry-up (2 very tasty sausages, two rashers, two eggs and a good helping of mushrooms, toast, marmalade and a large cup of coffee – €8.90) all served up on designer style crockery. The tables spaced a nice distance apart added to this very pleasant, and unexpected culinary experience. If you attend any of Keighery’s sales or happen to be in the area call in here – you won’t be disappointed!
Collect Ireland 